


Twister

by Tea4T



Series: Storm Chaser Au [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: M/M, Minor Character Death, Storm Chaser AU, Twister (movie) Au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-20
Updated: 2018-01-04
Packaged: 2018-12-04 15:06:51
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 16
Words: 44,248
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11557731
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tea4T/pseuds/Tea4T
Summary: The only thing Lance wanted to do was get the papers signed and go home but instead he is brought back into the life of storm chasing as he and his old team Led by Keith race against the clock to get their device in the air before their rival team can.





	1. Prologue

The wind and lightning roared outside the house on a late summer's night. It was a small three bedroom farmhouse that sat alone on the Oklahoma countryside and inside lived a small family of three, A father, mother- Mr and Mrs Kogane- and their five-year-old son Keith.

As the storm raged on, the television in the living room was broadcasting the weather reports. “ There is a tornado warning for the Oklahoma area tonight. The NSSL is stating that tonight we may see some of the biggest of the season.” The weatherman said with concern. Upon hearing this the Father stepped outside to examine the night sky when he heard the infamous roar of whirling winds, the uprooting of crops and the screech of farm equipment being lifted off the ground. He moved across the porch to see the murky sky transform into a large tornado that was ripping through the cornfield just behind the house.

Rushing inside the man yelled, “Honey! Grab Keith! Quickly, we need to go to the storm cellar now!” He continued to rush around the house looking for a flashlight while his wife ran to get their son.

All the while, Keith was sleeping soundly upstairs with the family cat, an orange tabby named Red, oblivious to the chaos happening outside. He was soon awakened by his mother's frantic voice calling out for him. “Keith, honey, come on it's time to get up. We have to go. Hurry!” As he started to sit up in bed his mother came rushing in and picked him up, cradling him over her shoulder. “I've got you, I've got you, everything is going to be okay. We have to go to the storm cellar okay honey,” his mother whispered to him. As she started to run down the stair, it dawned on Keith that the thunder outside wasn't just a thunderstorm but a tornado. As they passed by the TV, the weatherman was giving instructions on what to do and where to go in the event of a tornado. They were almost through the living room when he realised that Red wasn't behind them.

“Red! Red! Come on!” he cried as they left the house and scurried across the front lawn towards the cellar. The wind whipped through Kieth's black hair, tangling it in tight knots. “Red!” he continued until they reached the in-ground door of their hand-made storm-cellar. Keith's father threw the door open just as the twister tore through the barn closest to the house and ripped the electrical wires down sending sparks through the air. They all rushed to the shelter as quickly as possible. When Keith's mother put him down so that she could start up the gas lantern, he turned to his father, who was closing the door behind him, “Daddy wait! Red's still out there! we can't leave her!” he voiced with tears in his eyes when Red suddenly appeared at the small window in the door. His father promptly opened the door to let her in then closed it again, this time latching it shut. The shelter was calm for a few moments as they huddled in the corner waiting for the storm to pass. But within seconds, the winds were pulling at the door with great force. Keith's dad moved to hold the door down while it jumped at the wind's speed.

The door jerked and rattled against its frame as the raging winds moved over it. The sound of screeching metal rang out through the shelter as the storm threw things across the ground. Lightning flashed through the small window in the door has the tornado got closer and closer. Keith stared up through the window in odd fascination as the winds swept across the cellar. Keith's father yelled out, “Mover back! I don't think I can hold it! The winds are too strong!” He cried out in horror and pain as he tried with all his might to keep the door in place. The door ached and groaned as all the screws in hinges started to break and the slide bolt was shifting because of all the movement the door was making. Soon enough the door started to break apart and lift off the ground. Keith watched in terror as the door was ripped away from the structure with his father in tow as he desperately tried to grab a hold of something.

“Dad! No!,” Keith screamed as he moved toward the opening, reaching out in attempted to grab his father's hand as the winds took him away. Keith's mother cried as she pulled him back towards the farthest corner away from the wide open door as the winds continued their trek across the ground.

When the storm finally dissipated the family slowly emerged from the shelter. Keith's eyes widened as he examined the damaged created by the tornado. Everything was gone. Their house, the barn, all of their farm equipment. The landscape was barren. The destruction stretched for kilometres behind where the house used to stand. Keith cried with his mother as they realized that this was the most powerful twister they had ever encountered. His mother sobbed out, “ We had no warning.” as she moved around through the wreckage. After hearing that, Keith made a promise to himself that he would not let this happen to another family. He would do everything in his power to give families the warning time they needed to get to safety.


	2. Chapter 1: The Meet and Greet

Twenty Years Later

It was a mostly calm day on the Oklahoma countryside as a couple drives down the dirt side road. The blonde haired woman was looking around through the front window in search of anyone but there was not a vehicle in sight. She turned to the tanned skin man beside her driving their Blue pick-up truck.

“Lance, honey are you sure you know where he is? Are you sure he'll even be out here?” the women, Nyma asked again.

“Yes, dear. I know they will be out here. It's a perfect day. If I know Keith he probably has his whole team out here. He practically forgets everything except his work,” the man, Lance said as he continued to drive while gazing out at the skyline. Far off in the distance, a storm was brewing. Perfect weather for Keith and his team to be studying the conditions that create tornadoes. He took a deep breath and brought his attention back to the road ahead.

“Honey, are you sure about this? Do you think he actually signed the papers?” Nyma asked. The papers she was referring to were the divorce papers Lance had given Keith six months ago. He just wanted to move on with his life but having to wait for Keith to give him the documents back was taking too long so he decided to go and get them himself. That's why Lance and his new girlfriend were driving through the back roads of Oklahoma.

He gave another sigh, “I'm sure he did.” Lance started to drum his fingers along the steering wheel as they turned down another side road.

“Are you nervous,” Nyma questioned.

“What do you mean,” Lance shot her an odd look.

“Are you nervous about seeing him again,” Nyma pressed. She gave Lance concerned glance. “I mean don't you think this is kinda sudden?”

Lance reached over and gently grab her hand. He brushed his thumb across the back it and kissed her knuckles, “I'm not nervous. I'm just happy to be getting this over with so I can be with you and if this is what I need to do to make that happen then so be it.” They continued along the road they were on until a clearing emerged between the fields. There sat about six different vehicles. One ratty old small school bus that has been converted into a mobile home, an old black station wagon, plus three different truck, two with a mobile living quarters hooked into the bed of the truck's box, a dirty white one and a green one the last on being a Red pickup with a black strip down the side with a light bar attached to the roof. There was also a box van with a mural of a tornado on the side. On top of that one, there was a small satellite with a person working on it.  
~ ~ ~ ~

“All right, Pidge are we fixed yet?” a man with shoulder-length black hair called out while fiddling with the satellite dish on the roof.

“Almost! Give me one second Keith,” Pidge called out for the depth of the van, “okay! It's ready!” The dish shifted a bit and shot out a puff of white smoke in Keith's face and a shock through his fingers,

“Pidge!”

“Oops! Sorry, Keith. Here we go!” Pidge laughed as the satellite moved to face the storm across the way.

Keith banged on the top of the van as he got down and called out, “alright Pidge! I want to see some readings on those clouds stat! Make sure to focus on the dry line it seems to have stalled. So check west north-west and look for any rotations and increase in the PRF. Let's go!” As he walked away he could hear her mutter an 'okay there bossy pants' as she got to work. Pidge was the youngest person on the team but she was a genius when it came to sorting through raw data and compiling working diagrams. She was short with a small build. Perfect for rooting around inside the tech van. Her short reddish-brown hair flipped out at the ends. Pidge always said she kept it short so she didn't have to worry about getting it into knots and tangles for the winds while out on the road. It was a smart idea and Keith had considered cutting his a few times but always changed his mind at the last second.

Keith had stopped to watch the storm move across the countryside as another member of his team approached him. Said person being, Sam Holt, one of the oldest members of the team but also one with the least experience plus he is Pidge and Matt's father. Really he's just here to get some excitement into his life after he retired for the news channel. Keith was fine with that. Sam manned the cameras and he wasn't that bad of a photographer for his age. “Hey Keith, I think there is something wrong the camera. I can't get it to focus properly. Do you mind taking a look?” he asked gesturing for Keith to follow him back to the tripod. Keith inspected the device for any major problems and he found it while fiddling with the lens.

“Sam, there's grass in the telephoto lens. Did you drop it in the grass during our last round?” He questioned while cleaning off the lens.

Sam fixed his glasses nervously, “oh no sorry Keith, I didn't see that there. It must have happened when the winds whipped through the tall grass during the last storm. I'll be sure to be more careful next time!”

“It's alright, Sam, just make sure you fix it or you're sketching the twisters,” Keith said while handing the camera back. He went back fiddling with some cords from the van while Pidge set up the computers besides him.  
~ ~ ~ ~

Meanwhile, as Lance pulled into the clearing, he spotted his long-time friend Hunk chilling in a fold-out beach chair beside his bus. Said vehicle was blaring some good tunes through the small speakers attached to the roof. Hunk was a hefty guy with a heart of gold and one could usually find him with his sleeve rolled up and an orange bandana around his head. Not only was he the team's food guru, who knew where every good place to stop was, he was incredibly smart. Hunk acted as the group's mechanic, engineer and helped Pidge and Matt analyse any data they collected that day. As soon as they made eye contact Lance shot him his famous finger-guns.

As Lance parked his truck and got out he was rushed by Hunk into a bear hug, “Lance! Dude, welcome back! It's great to see you.” Hunk exclaimed.

“Hey, buddy! Missed you too!” Lance laughed, “Oh, hey there's someone I want you to meet.” he broke off the hug and moved to wrap his arm around Nyma's shoulder. “Hunk, this is Nyma. Nyma this is Hunk. He's been with us since we started chasing.”

“Hey Nyma, it's good to meet ya.” Hunk commented.

“Yo Hunk, do you know where Keith is?” Lance asked looking around for any sign of him. Hunk pointed toward the van on the other side of the clearing,

“Yeah, he's over there helping Pidge fix the Doppler. The thing broke again. Not enough grant money left to get a new one either.”

“Thanks, Bro” Lance turned to Nyma, “Hey can you stay with Hunk, I'll just be a minute okay.” He passed her off to Hunk while instructing him to fill her in on why he was the way he was. Lance started on his walk over when he ran into Sam.

Tapping him on the shoulder to get his attention Lance praised him with a “good job there bud!” as he turned away Sam called back with a “ welcome back!”

Lance sighed to himself, “I'm not back!” As he crossed the field he could hear two other members of the team arguing with each other. One with was a tall tan skin woman with platinum blonde hair and the other was a slightly shorter man with bright ginger hair and a matching moustache.

“Don't fold the maps, Coran!” Allura shouted as she hit Coran on the back of the head with one of the maps.

Coran swatted it away stating, “I didn't fold the maps!”

“What do you mean you didn't fold the maps! There's a huge crease through Wichita!” She cried out and threw the maps on the picnic table that was just a few metres from their dirty white truck. “Roll the maps! That's all I'm asking.” Coran and Allura had been with the team for years now. They both acted at the group's navigators while they were out on the hunt for storms. They were pretty good at it too which was always helpful. Without those two, the team would probably have been caught up in a tornado by now or lost in the middle of nowhere.

Lance chuckled under his breath at the two and gave them a small wave as he continued his trek towards Keith. He spots another member of the team on his way over, Shiro, a tall, strong, broad-shouldered man with short black hair with a white-ish silver patch in the front and shaved sides. He got the discolouration in his hair and the large scar across his nose a few years ago when he was hit with some debris during one the team's 'too close for comfort' encounters with a twister. Lance gave him a pat on the shoulder as he passes by, with a small, “Hey Shiro.” As he approached that van he could hear Keith muttering to himself while he messed around with the Doppler radar. A string of curses passed over his lips as he tugged his hands through his hair.

Lance watched him for a few seconds before breathing out a gentle, “Hiya Keith.”

Keith turned his head in surprise at the new voice. “Uh, hey Lance,” there was hit of anger in his response. “Here catch these,” he said as he threw some cords at Lance's face, “give those to Pidge.” Keith jumped done off the van and moved over toward the computers that Pidge was working on. He heard a quick, 'Yo Lance! Welcome back!' from Pidge and Lance give a sigh in response.

“So Keith do you have the papers?” Lance asked taking his attention away from his conversation with Pidge.

“What?” He paused not willing to answer. “Have you see that sky? It's beautiful. They say it's going to be the biggest series of storms in twelve years. One right after the other, NSSL says they've never seen anything like it,” Keith mumbled as he busied himself with the tech in front of him, trying not to look at Lance.

“Keith -” Lance was interrupted by Matt, Pidge's older brother and the team's other technician. He was almost identical to Pidge, just older and taller. He had medium-sized round glasses and short reddish-brown hair that looked like he slept with a hat on for too long because the ends winged out in all directions.

“Hi Keith, uh I'm getting some word from the NSSL that there is some more activity happening in the storm over there.” He gestured at the clouds moving across the fields a few kilometres away.

Keith nodded, “alright Matt, keep me posted.”

Lance was getting impatient now, “come on Keith.”

“Oh so you want those papers eh?” he asked with a sly look.

“Yes, Keith I didn't drive all the way out here for nothing. Now can I please have the divorce papers.”

At the mention of the divorce and the tension now filling the air around the two. Pidge grab her brother by the shoulder and started to move away from the couple to give them some space, muttering a quick, “come on Matt, let check the readings,” before hurrying off toward their vehicle.

Keith gave Lance an upset look, “Okay well they are all signed and ready to go.”

“Okay, so where are they?” Lance asked in annoyance.

“Give me a minute,” Keith grumbled, “what with the urgency, are you getting married or something?”

“Actually I am,” Lance snapped. He was growing tired of Keith taking his time. He just wanted to get the documents and get out so he could put this all behind him. Keith glared at him in surprise. They stared at each other for a couple of intense seconds before Lance looked away.

“Wow,” Keith whistled as he walked away from Lance towards his truck, “is it, Nina?”

“No, it's Nyma,” Lance followed after him.

“Wasn't there a Nina in there?”

“No there was never a Nina, it's only been Nyma since you,” Lance replied.

They stopped at Keith's truck, “huh, not much for browsing are you, that's a surprise.” He commented as he opened the door and reached into the glove compartment of his truck.

“No, I guess I'm not.” Lance sighed as he watched Keith.

Keith took a few second to rummage around in the compartment before emerging to hand Lance a folded bunch of papers with a sigh, “well here you go.”

As Lance moved to the front of the truck to look over the pages, Keith quickly shifted his wedding ring over to his right hand to hid that fact that he was still wearing it. As he moved past Lance to head back toward Pidge, Lance called out, “whoa, whoa, you missed a page!”

“What? What do you mean I missed a page?” Keith shot back in anger.

“Yeah, right here,” Lance held up the sheet and pointed to where Keith's signature should be. All while glaring at him. He patients for Keith's shit was wearing thin by this point.

Keith stared at the spot for a second than with a huff walked over to Lance and grabbed the forms from hand. Slamming them down in the truck's hood, he looked over the package again, “where did this page come from, I swear it wasn't here before!” Flipping back to the original page he was handed Keith proceeded to read it.

Lance seethed with anger, “what are you doing!”

“I'm reading it! Am I not allow to read what I'm signing?”

“God Keith! It's the same as it was in December, now just sign it so we can get out of here.”

Keith laughed with a smug look, “I didn't read it back in December!” then it dawned on him, Lance just said we. Oh shit, “We? You brought her here! Where is she?”

“Yes I did and she's with Hunk,” Lance answered handing Keith a pen urging him to sign the papers still in his hand.

Keith gave him a look of horror, “why would you leave her with Hunk!”

“She's fine, now please Keith, I want to go.” He pushed. Keith put the papers down and turned to walk toward Hunk's vehicle, “where are you going?” Lance called out in frustration.

“I want to meet her,” Keith simply replied walking away.

“Oh no, you don't!” Lance shouted after him. He almost walked away when he remembered the documents were still sitting on the hood of the truck. After grabbing them, he rushed over to follow Keith.

As they approached Hunk and Nyma they could hear him tell her about how a tornado works. You could just make out, “the sucks zone is basically the point where the tornado sucks you up. I know that's not the technical term for it or anything but-” Nyma who was sipping on a drink she got from hunk was listening in awe as he explained things.

Nyma was so engrossed in what Hunk was saying that she jumped in surprise when Keith interrupted with a loud “Hi! Keith Kogane-McClain.” he stretched out his hand to shake hers, earning himself a quick, 'Hi'. “It's nice to meet you, Lance just told me that happy news.”

With a noise of confusion, Nyma looked between Keith and Lance as she slowly stopped shaking his hand, taking her hand back all together, “uh which one?” she asked.

“Oh, the marriage,” Lance stated with a nod. Nyma copied the gesture with an “oh okay”

“Yeah, happy news,” Keith repeated with fake a smile.

Nyma again glanced between the two, “I know this seems kinda sudden but-”

Hunk, who was still sitting down, shot in a, “oh dude you takin' the vows, bro that's awesome! Congrats bud,” Lance nodded in approval

Continuing from where she left off Nyma said, “we just wanted to get it over with before Lance-y started his new job.”

“Oh right, right, right, weatherman!” Keith remarked.

“What?” Lance turned to challenge him.

Keith shifted to face Lance and with a raised eyebrow, copied, “what?”

Lance throw his arms up and snapped out, “What are you saying-”

Keith crossed his arms trying not to start a fight with Lance right then and there. “I said, weatherman. I think it's great-”

“Yeah, but you said it with that tone,” Lance countered with annoyance.

Keith moved closer to lance uncrossing his arms, “what tone? There was no tone unless you have a problem being a weatherman.”

“I- I have no problem being a weatherman!” Lance stuttered out. He was trying with all his might not to get into an argument with Keith. But everyone on the team knew that was a very difficult thing to avoid. Those two were at each other’s throats almost every hour of the day. It's surprising that they even agreed to get married. Although, one can see how that turned out.

Just as the tension started building between the two, Nyma's phone started ringing causing the entire atmosphere to shift. She tugged it out of her purse and answered it with a professional sounding, “Hello, Dr Nyma Hunter here.”

Keith stuck his hand out again for a quick shake and a soft, “just wanted to say hi,” before he turned to leave again.

Nyma replied with a short, “it was nice to meet you.” With Kieth gone she turned to Lance and shot him a writing movement in the air before whispering, “did he sign it?” Nyma was balancing her phone between her left shoulder and ear waiting for Lance to respond. As he clued into what she was doing, he swore under his breath and shook his head no. With the flick of her wrist, Nyma shooed him off to go find Kieth again as she sat back in the chair she was occupying minutes earlier.

Keith stopped to look over Lance's new truck, which was a blue Dodge Ram, crew cab with a tunnel cover. “Wow new truck eh,” he commented when Lance walked up, “new truck, new job, new wife. It's like a whole new you huh!” Keith inspected the truck before continuing his trek, leaving Lance to stare at him.

Chasing after Keith, Lance called out, “wait! Keith! Where are you going?” even though Keith is a couple inches shorter than Lance he is a fast walker. Especially when he's flustered. Lance finally caught up with him when he stopped to pace in front of his truck.

“Well that was really awkward,” Keith admitted running his left hand through his hair when Lance stood in front of him.

Lance rubbed his hands on his face and breathed out, “yeah, yeah it was.”

“God, I thought you were coming here by yourself,” Keith complained.

“why? I wasn't expecting to come out here at all, you said you would meet me remember.”

“It's Voltron, Lance. They're here,” said Keith turning toward him with a glint in his eye.

Lance's facial expression changed from pure annoyance to one of surprise, “you built it? Where is it? I want to see it!” Keith led them to the back of his truck where he dropped the tailgate. Hoping on to the bed he pulled off the tarp that had been covering something big. Now fully exposed, Lance's eye roamed over the contraption. It was silver cylinder about the size of a standard oil drum that was capped with clear Plexiglas. It also had a metal framework that came up about three-quarters of the way around the main body was made of one-inch square piping that was painted yellow with black caution lines in a few spots. There were all kinds of sensors and lights that lined the outside of the centre drum. To top it all off, it had a yellow lion face painted on the side of it. All in all, it was a beautiful piece of machinery. Joining Keith on the truck bed, Lance ran his hands over the surface in awe. “Wow, I can't believe you did it,” he said never taking his eyes off it.

Keith placed his hand gently on his shoulder, “well it was your idea. Although Pidge did make some adjustments to it. We're hoping to take them out with us this time.”

Finally breaking his gaze on the equipment, Lance shot Keith a surprised look, “Them?”

“Yeah, we build five of them.” Keith smiled.

Soon enough Hunk, Nyma and the rest of the team joined them at Keith's truck. “Oh man, isn't that thing cool! Dude, it was so much fun to build,” Hunk said with great excitement. Turning to Nyma he continued, “that right there,” he pointed to the device, “come out of that guy's head! I can't believe it!” Hunk beamed. Everyone else chattered with excitement.

Nyma stared up at it for a few seconds before raising an eyebrow, “wow it is great, what is it?”

“It's an instrument pack for studying tornadoes. The first one in history,” Lance answered with confidence. Gazing at the device with pride.

Keith cut in and continued to explain its purpose, “scientists have no idea how a tornado works. They have been studying them for years but they still can't figure just want makes them. We have no idea what is going on inside because no one has been able to take scientific measurements from inside the funnel itself. That's what they are going to do,” Keith paused for a moment to catch his breath. He was so excited to be telling someone about the team's invention. All they're hard work was finally coming together now that they had a working unit.

Nyma was listening intently, “how?” she questioned.

Keith's eyes lite up as we continued, “well you see, we're going to put them up inside, they open up,” he hit a button on the side of the framework that released the lid, it flew open almost hitting Lance in the face as he was bent over to look inside the cylinder. Reaching inside Keith took out a small clear plastic ball that what full of computer hardware with a short wire sticking out the side, “and release hundreds of these tiny sensors that measure all parts of the tornado simultaneously.” Keith handed Nyma one of the balls. She looked at in for a few seconds then gave it back as Lance started to explain the device in simpler terms.

“So it's like this Nyma,” Lance took one of the sensors are moved in around the small tornado diagram on the side of the cylinder, “these sensors go up the funnel and radio back information about the internal structure, wind velocity, flow asymmetry, we could learn more in thirty seconds than they have in the past thirty years. Get a profile of a tornado for the time,” Lance conclude with pride for what his team was going to accomplish with this groundbreaking instrument.

“And what will that do?” Nyma asked.

“With the information we collect, we could create advanced warning systems,” Lance answered. Nyma tilted her head. She still seemed a little confused about what Voltron would do.

“But don't we already have those?”

Lance sighed, “We do but they-”

Keith jumped in, “they are nowhere near good enough! Right now people only have three minutes to find shelter. With this, we could triple that time. We could give people up to almost fifteen minutes to get to cover!” Keith has a first-hand understanding of the disaster of no warning and trying to convince Nyma as to why this device can do was put a strain on his patients. How could Lance stand her! He thought to himself.

“This could save lives Nyma,” Lance stated, or at least that's what the guys are trying to do eh!” he turned to the rest of the crew with a smile on his face. Coran reached over to pat his leg in agreement while the rest cheered. Sam was taking commemoration photos as everyone clapped. Shiro helped Keith off the truck as lance jumped down into the crowd. Slapping Keith on the shoulder Lance smiled, “I still can't believe you did it.”

“Well, we did it actually,” Keith said gesturing to the rest of the team.

“Wait, how do you get it in the tornado?” Nyma interrupted.

Lance turned to look at her, “Well you have to get in in front of the tornado's damage path then get yourself back out before it picks you up too,” he explained.

Nyma gave him a look of great concern as Hunk leaned over and whispered, “it's the suck zone.” she jerked away from him and responded with a quick “oh” of understanding.

Just then, Matt came running over from his computer station, “Keith we have major action! The NSSL said the cap is breaking, towers are going up thirty miles off the dry line!” Keith stands there for a second and takes a look around at his team then at Lance. They stare each other down before Keith moves.

“Alright, let’s go! Move, move, move!” he called as the everyone rushes to pack up. They are all cheering with excitement as they get ready to move out. Keith slammed the tailgate on his truck closed and rushed over to help the Holt's unhook the Doppler. While everyone was cleaning up Lance stood by watching. He was seriously debating on whether or not he wanted to join in on the hunt. As he waited there, Lance could hear the team yelled at one another.

“We'll go third, Shiro you follow!” Pidge hollered.

“Sam don't forget the camera!” Keith shouted running passed him.

“Come on Hunk! You're always last!” Allured yelled as she saw him throw his lounge chair and umbrella into his vehicle. Lance broke out of his trance when doors started to slam shut.

“Come on Nyma, let’s let them do their thing. I mean this is what they live for,” he said as he guided her back to their truck.

“Are you sure you don't want to tag along?”

Turning in surprise at her words Lance shot back, “what you mean, go with them? Nah, I'm okay. They can handle it.” But in reality, he did really want to go but he wasn't too sure about how Nyma would feel about being out on the road heading straight into the face of danger. Keith honked his horn as he drove by the two catching both of their attention.

Nyma gave a little wave before asking, “Oh did he sign the papers?”

Lance suddenly stopped mid-step his eyes widening and Nyma rolled hers at the site, “Shit! No, he didn't!” he looked off in the direction Keith had just gone frantically, “if we hurry, we may be able to catch them!” He ran toward their truck as the rest of the team pulled out.

As Coran and Allura drove by him, Coran stuck his head out the window, “Lance it's nice to see you back my boy!”

Lance groaned in frustration, “I'm not back!” After getting into his vehicle Lance sped off after the convoy. “When we catch up with them, you can take the truck home. I'll get the papers sign and see you tonight okay.” he glanced over at Nyma in the passenger seat. She snapped her head toward him with a grin.

“No honey, I find this kinda interesting, I wanna tag along!” Lance watched her for a second with a questioning look, but agreed to her request and continued to race after his old team.


	3. Chapter 2: Let's Roll!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So there is going to be swearing from now on because when you're chasing tornadoes it's hard not to.

Keith was the first vehicle in the convoy as they raced out of the clearing and onto the open road. Adrenaline was pumping through his veins like crazy. This was one of the most exciting days not only for him but his whole team. They had worked so hard to craft this equipment. Even after Lance walked out on them -Him- the group had pushed forward putting everything they had into it. Blood, sweat and tears. Literally. Grabbing his CB radio he shifted the frequency so he could talk to his navigators, “Coran!”

“Yeah boss?” his voice filtered through the speaker.

“Can we do better than the thirty?” Keith asked looking around for any turn offs.

The radio crackled again, “No. Not for a while. It’s best to stay on it until we pass Roger’s Creek.” with that information Keith pursued his foot further down on the gas-petal.

“Copy that,” He replied. Hooking the radio back to its back, Keith moved around to look out the windows. The clouds to the right of him were growing darker and the thunder was getting louder as it approached their location. The radio buzzed with the sounds of his team getting themselves pumped up for the trip. Pidge and her brother rod together and usually listen to some upbeat techno music while Shiro, who drove by himself was quiet. Sam normally has classical music playing and Coran and Allura had whatever was on the radio. Hunk, on the other hand, had rigged up his old small school bus with speakers on the outside as well as the inside so everyone could hear what he was listening to which no one really knew what that was. It changed all the time. All of this brought a smile to his face as he continued onward toward the storm.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

As Lance barrelled down the road he caught sight of something in his left side-view mirror. It was another set of vehicles speeding along. When the first got closer him Lance recognized the driver instantly, he gripping the steering wheel tightly and growled out, “Sendek. That son of a bitch”

Noticing Lance’s anger Nyma reached over and placed her hand on his arm as a way to calm him down. As she did so, she looked out the window to a black truck pulling up beside them. “Who’s that?” Nyma gestured toward the other driver.

Lance and Sendek made eye contact as they passed each other. Lance gave him a small head nod and a fake smile. After he turned to answer Nyma’s question, “ That’s Sendek. He’s a nightcrawler. We all started out in the same lab, but Sendek went and got himself a corporate sponsor. Zarkon, creator of the Galra enterprise, his company is trying to take and gain credit for anything and everything. Sendek’s in it for the money, not the science. He’s got a lot of high-tech gadgets, but he’s got no instincts. And he doesn’t have Voltron!” They watched as four black minivans rush past them.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Meanwhile, with Keith, he was concentrating on driving and didn’t notice the added company until his radio sparked to life again when Shiro’s voice rang through, “Keith, I think we have fleas.”

Keith’s eye shot over to his left side mirror, “Shit!” he cursed as Sendek’s team approached. He gripped the steering wheel hard while a scowled took over his expression. Sendek was probably, no wait scratch that he is, the most annoying professional storm chaser he had ever met. Him, Lance, Shiro and Sendek, they had started out in the same lab. Shiro and Sendek had been there for a year longer than Keith and Lance but they all worked together on certain projects. Sendek used to bug the shit out of Shiro at any chance he got. If he made a mistake, Sendek was right there to mock him about it. Keith could see that Shiro was trying to not let it get to him but it was and Keith had had enough. The two got into a huge fight but, it was Lance who stepped in and took the brunt of the fists that were thrown that day. Lance still holds a grudge against Sendek for putting him in the hospital. People say the Keith has anger problems but every time Lance sees Sendek, there is bound to be a fight.

“Keith, come back,” speaking of Lance, there was his voice now which kind of surprised Keith.

Picking up the radio, he shot back with a smirk, “Hey there, So you changed your mind eh.”

“Yeah, what’s Sendek doing here?”

Keith could hear the hate in Lance’s voice. Oh, this will be a fun day he thought, “I don’t know,” he lied, “but I bet he’s asking himself the same question about you.” Keith glanced in his mirror again to see that Lance is almost caught up to the rest of the team when he spotted the last vehicle in Sendek’s convoy speeding up beside him. He could hear a hook as he witnessed the black square van push Lance off the road as it passed by his truck. Keith could also hear Lance’s voice through the radio. He must still have his hand on the button.

“Shit! Hold on.” Keith watched as he swerved to avoid being hit, “Damn son of a bitch!” he cried as his truck came to a stop on the side of the road. Keith slowed down and pulled over when he saw Lance get out of his truck to check something. He directed the rest of his team to do the same as he waited for Lance in tell them what was wrong. If a few seconds Lance’s voice came on again, “Keith, that asshole pushed me into some stuff on the side of the road.” there was a sigh, “I have a flat. Where’s the closest place to get it fixed?”

Before Keith could answer, Hunk beat him, “there’s a mechanic shop in the next town plus there a small restaurant there that sells some good lemonade! Oh, do you have a spare?”

Keith chuckled to himself, oh course Hunk would know that. Lance replied with a, “yeah I do.” Then Hunk offered to help him put it on. Once that was done they were back on the road.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

As they pulled up to the mechanic’s shop they could see that Sendek setting up shop at the diner across the road. The one that Hunk had mentioned. The rest of the team headed off to do their own thing and Lance told Nyma to get the mechanic. After taking the damaged tire out of the back of his truck, Lance immediately started conversing with the owner of the shop when he approached them, “so how long do you think it will take?” He asked politely.

The man inspected the tire and gave Lance a rough estimate, “about ten minutes, fifteen tops.” Before he left with the tire the man handed Nyma a bathroom key that he heard from one of the other employees that she wanted. Lance thanked the man and watched Nyma head off to find the washroom before he walked away.

As he rounded the back he could just hear Sendek talking about something, when he got closer Lance saw that he was standing in front of a camera and beside a device that looked way too much like Voltron to by a coincidence. He was now able to hear everything that Sendek was telling his audience, “What drives me is the unknown. What if we could predict the tornado’s path? How many lives would be spared with the creation of an early warning system? And the Robeast is the answer” He stopped to reach inside the now open oil drum sized cylinder, pulling out a small aluminium cube with a little wire sticking out the top, showing it off to everyone he continued, “the first digital orthographic telemeter. And inside, she holds hundreds of these little sensors, which, when released in the tornado, will transmit back data on wind speed, pressure, and dew-point temperature.” By this point, Lance had heard enough. He started marching there with his fists clenched tightly at his side. God was he pissed. He was halfway there when a voice interrupted his rage.

“Lance!” it was Shiro, he had been watching Lance from his spot beside Keith, to see what he would do. As soon as he noticed the anger seeping off Lance as he glared at him, he elbowed Keith in the side. That earned him a glare from Kieth before he turned his attention to Lance, who was growing angrier by the second as he continued his trek toward Sendek.

Keith looked between Lance and Sendek and finally realized what was going on, “Lance don’t do it!” he yelled.

“Why didn’t you tell me!” Lance retorted.

Finally closing the gap between himself and Sendek, Lance threw the first punch hitting him on the side of the face, then grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and slammed him against his contraption. “You son of a bitch!” Lance spat in his face. Sendek struggled against his grip as Lance continued his rant, “what’d you think! I wasn’t going to find out about this!” he slammed him back again.

“Hey, would you get this loser off of me!” Sendek snapped at his team who were standing behind him stunned by the outburst. At the same time, Keith’s team came running over to pull Lance off him. Lance fought against them still. “What is the matter with it?” Sendek barked once he was finally free from Lance’s grip.

While still fighting against his team, mainly Hunk and Shiro, Lance seethed with hatred, “you stole my design! You son of a bitch!”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“Voltron! You took it! You damn thief!” Lance pulled against his team again.

Sendek laughed as he understood what Lance was talking about. He moved closer to Lance and leaned forward so their faces were close, “oh so you’re trying to take credit for my design are you?” He gave Lance a cold smile.

He stepped back as Lance broke free from his restraints, “You’re a liar!” Lance jabbed his finger against Sendek’s chest. “She was our design and you know it!” He argued.

“An unrealized idea, unrealized Lance,” he challenged.

“That ain’t worth shit!” Lance cursed as he made a move for him again. Only this time he was stopped by Keith yelled at them.

“Guys, Guys!” he came running up and got between the two, “Can my team get a grip on themselves,” Keith directed the last part more at Lance than anyone else. He grabbed Lance tightly by the arm, “We both know he will never get that this up in the air.”

“Well let me enlighten you,” Sendek scoffed, making his way back over to his device he rambled off its features as he closed the lid, “this baby has satellite comlink. We got an onboard pulse, Doppler. We got NEXRAD real time.” He paused to watch the groups reactions. When he didn’t earn the one he wanted he sneered, “Today we’re going to make history. So stick around… ‘cause the days of sniffing the dirt are over.”

As the commotion died down a bit, both Keith and Lance heard Pidge mutter, “Yeah better than what you’re sniffing.”

Lance chuckled under his breath at her comment and add, “well we’ll see who gets there first pal.” As he started to walk away Sendek shot back one last insult.

“Oh and I really enjoy your weather reports,” he laughed as Lance tried to come after him again only to be held back by Shiro.

“You slime! I’m not through with you yet!” Lance struggled under Shiro’s grip, “Come back here!” He yelled before turning to his teammate, “get your hands off of me! Let me go!” It took both Shiro and Hunk to finally pull Lance away from the scene before he calmed down

Lance shook the two off, “okay, okay. I’m fine!” and glared daggers at the back of Sendek’s head from a distance.

“He’s a corporate kiss-butt man!” Hunk said to him as they walked away. He gave a pat on the back before Keith approached the two.

While Lance stared at him in full rage mode, Keith calming said, “I’m sorry, I should have told you.”

Lance pointed his finger at him, “One day. I’ll give you one day.” He jabbed at Keith's chest harshly, “Whether she flies or not, I’m gone.” They had a stare off until it was interrupted by Nyma. Keith swears that she had oddly perfect timing when they were about to get into a fight.

“Honey, Honey,” she called out to Lance as she walked up behind him. She could see the tension in his stance, “is everything alright?”

Lance turned to greet her with a small smile, “Yeah, yeah everything is alright.” he grabbed her hands and squeezed them gently.

“Are you sure?” she pushed.

“Yeah, I am,” Lance gazed up at the sky and sighed, “I’m going to stay out here and get some air. Why don’t you get up some cold drinks okay.” He gave Nyma a soft smile which she returned with her own before walking away toward the diner with a short okay.

As she moved away Lance continued on toward the end of the gravel parking lot to observe the clouds ahead. He was still angry about Sendek and everything but he did enjoy the thought of a good challenge. Taking a deep breath then let it out he stood there and let the wind brush through his hair and the sound of distant thunder wash over him. Soon he bent down to grab some sand. Once he had enough, Lance stood up and slowly dumped out of his hand, watching which way the wind was taking it. He studied it for a moment before going back to the clouds.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

After his conversation with Lance, Keith made his way over to the diner. He could understand why Lance was so mad but he didn’t have to go and punch Sendek. That’s his job! God Lance is so frustrating sometimes! He thought as he opened the door. The restaurant was a decent size for a small town. It was bright and cheery with its cream coloured walls and 50’s style seating. All-in-all it was a nice stop. Unfortunately, as soon as he took a few steps inside he was bombarded by Sendek, who was trying to act like his best friend.

“You know Keith, I don’t know what’s the matter with Lance. He’s wacko. He’s crazy. You ought to keep a leash on him.” He said. God Keith hated this guy. He was so full of shit you could practically see it coming out of his ears. Keith wanted to laugh at him but right now he was unamused and just wanted a coffee.

He gave Sendek an eye roll, “He’s not my problem. He’s yours.” Keith moved to get around him when Sendek stopped him again.

“Oh, I just wanted to let you know that this storm’s going to be a lot bigger than we anticipated. I got reports of mesos from Grand County all the way to Logan.” Sendek looked around trying to see if anyone was listening to them.

Keith crossed his arms over his chest and gave him a questioned look, “Oh, sharing valuable information now are we?” he raised an eyebrow. What was Sendek after? He would never tell them anything if it could give his team a head start in the chase.

Sendek chuckled, “oh no, I was just curious as to which way you were going.” Oh, so that’s what he wanted. He had no idea what he should be doing. So much for all those high-tech gadgets of his eh. He still could beat Kieth’s team. Lance was right when he said Sendek had no instincts. He was just an idiot with money.

Keith gave Sendek a smirk, “oh yeah, Well think I’ll be going south-east. To the counter.” he laughed to himself as he moved around the stunned Sendek. God, what did he think Keith was, an idiot. Why the hell would Keith give him any information? Feeling satisfied with himself Keith stepped up to the counter and motioned for a waitress.

The woman was busy with Nyma at the moment so he waited. “Can I get two lemonades please,” he heard her order before the waitress turned to get his order which was just a standard coffee to go. 

Thinking he could strike up a civil conversation with Nyma, Keith took a chance and just jumped right in, “Nothing ever changes.” he said waiting for her to respond.

“Pardon me?” she said with a hint of anger in her tone. Looking over at Keith, Nyma gave him a challenging stare.

Way to go Keith! She’s probably thinking that you’re talking about her he thought to himself. He knew he was bad at starting conversations so why did he do it. He broke eye contact with Nyma to give a nod in Sendek’s direction, “He’s going to wait and see what Lance does.”

She followed Keith’s line of sight and saw the man that had practically run them off the road earlier, she pointed at him, “that man is waiting for Lance? Why?” She was a little concerned considering what happened back on the road and in the parking lot just a few minutes ago. Keith started to explain to her what he meant as thunder rumbled in the distance. It sounded like it was getting closer. “So you’re telling me that Lance knows what a storm is thinking?” she was sceptical about that.

Keith laughed at her disbelief, “my Uncle Thace use to call him a human barometer.”

Nyma shook her head, “Well, he hasn’t really told me about all this.”

By this point Keith had kind of tuned her out, He was keeping an eye on the Galra crew at the other end of the diner. They were spread out across a few table. Their equipment littered the tops. They were all chattering among themselves with Sendek creeping over their shoulders every now and then. Just watching him work pissed Keith off. His attention was brought back to the counter when the waitress set his coffee down. He gave her a small smile and turned to Nyma, “Oh you better use to washroom now, there will not be a lot of places to stop once we’re on the road.” he said rooting around in his pockets for money.

While Keith had to paying attention to the Galra, Nyma studied him. She had noticed the way he talked to and about Lance and something felt off. Then she noticed it. Keith was still wearing his wedding ring. Sure it was on the other hand but it was still there. Nyma narrowed her eyes at him as he spoke to her again. When he was finished she jumped right in, no beating around the bush with this one, “You’re still in love with him aren’t you?”

That caught Keith off guard but he wasn’t willing to let Nyma know that so he ignored it. When she didn’t get an answer, Nyma pressed on, “not that I blame you. I just hope this isn’t some desperate attempt to keep him in your life.” Keith glared at her. God this woman was annoying! He thought, how did Lance even like her. He bit his tongue and instead of getting into an argument with Nyma he decided to do as the old saying went, 'kill your enemies with kindness' so with a forced smile he picked up her bill and paid for it. Then walked out, leaving Nyma stunned.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Meanwhile, as Keith was trying his hardest not to punch both Sendek and Nyma, Lance is still standing in the parking lot staring at the sky. Only now he was joined by Hunk. “Hey, man what’s up?” He said putting a hand on Lance’s shoulder.

“Going green,” is all Lance said while gesturing to the sky. He had been studying the clouds, watching to see what they would be. When the team had first pulled into the diner, the clouds had been a light smoky grey, but slowly they got dark and eventually turned a sickening green. The tell-tale sign of a tornado. The air was buzzing with energy and the wind felt different. It was coming and Lance knew it.

He heard Hunk hum a laugh. “Greenage,” he clapped his hands together and took a deep breath to settle his nerves. There was a reason why Hunk travel at the back of the convoy. Other than the fact that his bus was the slowest, he had some anxiety problems. They weren’t too bad most of the time but every once in a while it did get the best of him. Once his nerves were in check Hunk gently punched Lance in the shoulder, “Awesome! What’s your call dude?”

Lance turned to face him with a grin. “Saddle em’ up!”

“You got it!” Hunk cheered as he jogged back towards the rest of the team. Lance hung back to watch the storm just a little bit longer before following Hunk. He met up with Nyma as she was crossing the parking lot heading for their truck.

“I got you a lemonade honey,” she said trying to hand it to him. But Lance was tugging his jacket back on after he had taken it off to cool down after his confrontation with Sendek so he couldn’t take it. Although once both of his hands were in the sleeves he grabbed Nyma by the arms,

“We gotta move out,” he said in a rush, “listen follow us in the truck but stay behind Hunk. You’ll be safe back there! I have to go with Keith.” and with a small kiss on her forehead Lance ran off to Keith’s truck, yelling for his team to get ready. Nyma stood there for a second confused about what was going on. The only thing that snapped her out of it was the sounds of Hunk’s bus firing up. As it drove by her she rushed to open her truck door. Putting the drinks on the roof, Nyma ripped the door open, got in and sped off as fast as she could. With the drinks forgotten they flew off and hit the ground before Sendek and his team could leave the diner. They had been trying to keep an eye on the Voltron crew but they did not expect them to move out so quickly. The Galra rushed to pack up the stuff and catch up with them before it was too late.


	4. Chapter 3: One down Four left

As the commotion of his team getting ready to leave filled his ears, Lance grew more excited. He missed the thrill of the hunt and everything else that came with it. There were a few times where he had thought about reconsidered his decision to leave to the team but all his fights and arguments with Keith outweighed his desires to come back. Although now that he was going to be 'back in the saddle' he didn't want to leave again.

He sprinted over to Keith just as he was about to open his truck down with his keys in his mouth and coffee in his hand. Lance grabbed the keys from between his teeth and pushed Keith aside saying, “I'll drive!” before getting in so that Keith had no time to complain. Keith stood there in shock for a second then raced over to the passenger side pulling on his own jacket.

As they all pulled out Lance could just see Sendek and his team stepping out the door of the diner. He laughed, of course, they would follow. The Galra had no real instincts, they just relied on their tech to get them through. 'Idiots' Lance thought. As the team hit the road again he could hear them over the radio doing all of their pre-hunt rituals once more. He could hear Hunk's music playing over his outside speakers all the way up at the front. Lance smiled knowing his whole team was excited. After the initial fervour wore off Keith and Lance sat awkwardly in the truck together.

“So uh...” Keith tried to start. He gazed out the front window looking at the sky.

“So...” Lance repeated drumming his fingers on the steering wheel.

Keith took note of the cloud formation before clearing his throat and starting again, “amazing colouring there isn't it?” he was referring to the sky above. Lance leaned over the wheel to take a better look. There is a lighter section of clouds that formed little bubbles or as some people see it, little sacks that resemble spider eggs on the underside of the clouds.

“Yeah, look at those mammatus. Bet those tops have got to be spiking above 40,000. That's a good thing,” He said.

“A very good thing,” Keith agreed.

As they continued driving long, Keith took notes on the weather condition and so on. It was quiet for a few minutes until Kieth decided to act on the pressing issue, the elephant in the room kind of thing. He wanted to know more about Nyma. Even though he already didn't like her. “So is she from the station? Is that where you met her?” he asked nonchalantly still keeping his eyes on the sky.

“Keith, I don't want to fight,” Lance said with an unimpressed sign.

“I'm not fighting, I'm talking.” Keith turned to him, What was Lance's problem! Keith could be civil some days. Not everything he did was to start a fight with Lance.

“Keith I do not want to fight,” Lance repeated with a bit of anger.

Okay, so Keith would try a different tactic, “she's nice,” he complimented which earned him a dry sarcastic laugh from Lance, “oh no, she's not nice?”

“I know what you meant,” Lance said, his voice becoming harsh.

Keith raised an eyebrow, “Oh you do?”

Lance took a deep breath before replying, “Yeah, so don't do this.”

“Okay, well I'm trying to make extremely civilized conversation. You're biting my head off.” Keith made sure to emphasize the 'extremely civilized conversation' part to get his point across and through Lance's thick skull. He can be so annoying! Keith thought.

It was quiet in the truck for another couple of seconds, when Lance finally cooled down enough to answer the question, “yes, she's a very nice person and no I did not meet her at the station. She's- ” He pauses a took a side glance at Keith, “She's a therapist.” He waited for Keith's reply and when he didn't get one after a few beats of silence, Lance took his eyes off the road to give him an odd look. When he did, Lance was met with a slightly blank expression on Keith's face, but there was a hint of a smirk in the corner of his lips. Keith gave him a nod to show that he heard him but when Lance gave him a pointed look Keith finally spoke up.

“Oh...” Keith looked away and back to the sky before off offhandedly saying while trying to hit a smirk, “yours?” The word almost didn't leave his lips by the time Lance slammed his hand down on the steering wheel,

“Christ Keith! You couldn't resist, could you?” Lance retorted glaring at Keith while also trying to keep his eyes on the road.

“What? I'm not saying you need therapy-”

“What!” Lance practically yelled.

“I'm not-” Lance interrupted him again

“I need therapy?” Lance slowly getting more pissed off with Keith. Why did he choose to drive or be in the same vehicle as him? He had no idea.

“I didn't say that!” Keith was trying to get that across to him but obviously, Lance was not listening because his voice was drowning out Keith's.

“I need a therapist? What could I possibly need a therapist for?” Lance was fuming by this point, and when Keith tried to answer, he cut him off again. “You're the doctor. Tell me!” Lance stopped finally giving Keith a chance to comment on his rant.

“I don't know...” Keith a little confused as to why Lance was so upset since Lance was still quiet, he continued with some caution, “An inability to finish things. I don't finish things? Rushing into things you can't quite commit to...” He shrugged his shoulders. His choice of words may not have been the smartest one for the situation because they set Lance off again.

“Commitment!” Lance roared.

“You asked me!” Keith shot back crossing his arms over his chest.

“No that is bull shit!” Lance cried, hands gripping tighter and tighter on the wheel to the point where his knuckles were turning white. “Look I may have walked out but a least I show up in the first place!” Lance throw one of his hands up in the air, a heavy scowl present on his face as he turned to give Keith a death glare. “You never had the slightest idea about commitment! what being married means, like stability, supportiveness, the house, and all kinds of neat stuff like that.” Lance ranted off still looking at Keith.

Keith, on the other hand, was paying attention to the road, unlike Lance. He watched as the slowly drifted off the pavement on to the gravel. Inching closer to the grass that ran alongside the shoulder. Trying to yell out over Lance, “O.K., there's a whole road thing going-” he gestured to the road but it was clean though that Lance could not hear him over the sound of his own voice. So Keith waited until Lance stopped to take a breath to speak again, “can I drive?”

“No!” Lance shouted, his eyes nowhere near the road.

“Well, could you!” Kieth shot back point toward the front window. Ahead of them was a piece of farm equipment, a combine without its harvester head attached to the front, that had been left on the side of the road.

“Whoa!” Lance yelled as he swerved around the tractor and back on to the road. “Damn,” he said as he rolled his shoulders to calm his nerves down.

After watching Lance take few deep breaths Keith took a few more jabs at him, just for fun. “Somebody should warn her about your temper.” Most people would say that Keith had a short fuse and an awful temper but, once Lance got fired up he was worse. Keith sometimes enjoyed pushing the button just to see how red his face could get or how loud his voice could go. Usually, that resulted in Lance almost losing his voice for a few days. Keith was secretly happy when that happened but he would never tell Lance that.

“Keith I swear if you don't-” Now it was Keith's turn to cut Lance off.

“She obviously has no idea what she is getting herself into.” he was shaking his head.

“Oh just stay the hell out of this!” Lance retorted.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Without realizing it Keith and Lance had left their CB radio on with the channel set to Pidge and Matt's frequency which allowed them to hear their entire argument.

The siblings looked at each other as the fight continued over the speakers, “I think they are getting better at this.” Matt commented, while coincidentally eating some pre-made popcorn. Pidge laughed while the two kept up their fight. Although she could tell by the tone of Keith's voice he was getting tired of.

“As long as they can stay on the road and argue, I think they are doing just fine,” she replied as Keith and Lance were still going.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

“You know what, as long as you're happy,” Keith started to say. He just wanted this discussion to be over. Lance was too worked up and he was tired.

“Thank you! I am happy,” Lance wanted to win this argument, He wanted to prove to Keith that he was just fine without him, better even! Which is why he made sure to stress 'I'm happy' in his rant, “I'm a happy person. I'm happy with my life. I'm happy with the way things are going in my life. I'm happy with...with... with...” He was still upset to the point that he was forgetting how to talk.

“Nyma,” Keith added.

“I know her name!” Lance glared at Keith again, “yes I'm happy with Nyma!”

“Oh, you look happy.” Keith shot back because it was obvious that Lance was lying.

“I am!” he cried before the CB burst to life with the sounds of Pidge's voice,

“Shit! Are you guys going to wrap this up anytime soon?” annoyance in her tone.

Lance reached for the radio, “What!” he barked back still heated from the fight.

There was almost so much sarcasm in Pidge's voice, it was ridiculous, “Oh nothing, I was just wondering if we were going to chase this tornado or catch the next one.”

“Shit!” they both cried. Keith frantically looked around for it but he couldn't find it. “Pidge is it on the ground?” he called back over the radio but before he could get a responds Lance spotted it.

“I got it!” he turned the truck sharply to the left, the tires squealing under them.

“Easy, easy!” Keith did not want Lance to blow a tire now, not while they had a twister in their sites. As they sped down the tar-gravel side road the rest of their team followed close behind. To the left of them, moving around a few fields away was a beautiful small to a medium sized tornado. Near the top of the funnel, the clouds were a dark blue-black with hints of green. At the base, there were swirls of dirt and debris being thrown around. Keith watched it waiting to see if it was going to stick around long enough for them to use it. Once he decided it was good, Keith radioed back to his team, “We're moving to intercept guys, get ready to set up!” looking out his side mirror, he could see the other slowing down to hang back, while Lance and him raced closer to the funnel. “you going to have to get ahead of it!”

“I know what I'm doing.” Lance was calm now and almost smiling.

“Cut across the field, Lance!” Keith pointed in front of Lance at the field to their left.

Lance was still driving on the same road, trying to concentrate, “ I know I have to get ahead of it.”

Keith was getting antsy. They were going to miss this if Lance did do want he asked, “You have to get into the field Lance!” he repeated.

Lance glanced over at Keith as he fidgets in his seat. He wanted to laugh at the site, “Do you want to drive?” trying to lighten the mood.

“I'm just saying-”

“would you like to drive?” he said cutting Keith off.

Keith gave him an unimpressed smile, “ yes, I would love too.” They both watched as the tornado shifted from being straight up and down to form an almost 'S' like shape as it continued its trek through the landscape. It was growing closer and closer to them. Just what they wanted. Soon Keith spotted an opening in the field, this was their chance! “Right there! Right there!” he pointed practically leaning over Lance as they passed.

Lance pushed him back with one hand, “Can you just hold on.” Jesus, could Keith just settle down for a second! He was attempting to figure out a way to get close enough to it while not getting them killed. Although with Keith constant pressure it was getting harder to do so.

Keith stared at him in surprise, “Have you lost your nerve?” God Kieth hoped not or this would never work. Lance turned to him and laughed, taking that as a challenge. He reached over and grabbed Keith's seatbelt and pulled it tight.

“Tighten your seatbelt!” he scoffed, there was a fire in Lance's eyes and a grin on his face as stepped on the gas, taking the next opening into the field.

“Lance, Keith, where are you we lost visual of you?” Coran's voice crackled on the radio but they could hardly hear it. The path they were on was muddy and extremely bumpy, the further they drove the higher the sides got. Before they realized it, it had become a moat. In reality, this was the worst thing they could have done.

“Are we having fun yet,” Lance jabbed at Keith as they barrelled down the trench. He was not joking around anymore, this was awful and he wanted nothing more than to get out of.

“Okay, we really gotta get out of this,” Keith voiced Lance's own thoughts. He was right too, they really did need to find a way out. Lance was trying his hardest to get up the sides but it wasn't working, they just got steeper and muddier. It was almost no use.

“Really!” he remarked under his breath as he continued to steer down the bumpy track. They were bouncing all over the place as he frantically looked for an opening. Keith could see the tornado moving closer to them as it ripped through the field right beside them.

“Lance, sometime this week please!” Keith stressed. He was grown nervous as the twister closed in.

“Two miles and getting closer!” Matt's voice came through the radio. Oh just what they needed, a reminder of how close to danger they really were.

The roar of the winds became louder and the walls of the drainage ditch higher making it nearly impossible to escape. Keith looked over at Lance who was glaring out the front window, his hands wrapped tightly around the wheel as he cursed under his breath. “Are you mad?” he asked, almost not wanting to hear the answer.

Lance grit his teeth, “I'll be mad later! Right now I'm trying not to get us killed!” he was  
manoeuvring the truck through the mud as Allura's voice called out,

“Funnel getting thicker. It's moving fast. Coming towards you, Keith!” Just then the tornado ripped through the barn they had just passed on their left, sending debris flying everywhere. The metal top of a grain silo just missed them. Keith watched through the back the back window as the storm ate the barn then shifted.  
“Shit! It's starting to turn,” he cried.

After hearing that Lance frantically looked around while fighting against the awful road conditions.

“Where I can't see it!” He kept searching. Before Keith had a chance to answer his teammates were yelling at them through the radio again.

“Keith, you're too close! It's not going to work, you have to get out of there!” The winds practically drowned them out as both the truck and the tornado race forward.

“Oh shit!” Lance yelled as he spotting a small bridge running over the trench a couple hundred metres ahead of them. He tried pumping the breaks to slow them down so the impacted would be so hard. “oh this was a great idea!” the truck hit some deep water and thick mud which helped to slow them down enough to slam into the bridge but not break it. The base of the funnel was right on their tail as they jumped out of the vehicle.

“See that wasn't so bad!” Keith called out as he through the door opened and ran for the back, “come on let's get her ready!”

“Why can't we spend a normal day together” Lance complained following Keith. The winds whipped through their hair and dirt brushed their faces as they rounded the back of the truck. Shielding his face Lance watched as the tornado sent heavier debris flying toward them. Just was Keith dropped the tail-gate the twister dipped into the trench a few hundred metres from them and picked up speed. Lance grabbed Keith's arm as he tried to climb up on to the bed. “No, This is crazy! There's no time!” he started pulling Keith down. He struggled against Lance as he was dragged away from the truck.

“No! Let me go! We can still do this!” Keith started kicking as Lance lifted him off the ground trying to make it easier for himself to move away from the danger. Lance throw Keith under the bridge and told him to grab onto something. Anything, so Keith did. They both hugged the centre beam as the funnel inched closer. Realizing that Lance had let go of him, Keith started to crawl away from him. He wanted, no he needed to get a better look at the tornado descended upon them. It was just behind the truck when Lance violently pulled him back.

“What are you doing? Come back!” Lance cried as Keith once again struggled to get away from him.

“I want to see it!” Keith exclaimed as the winds rushed passed them, tangling his black hair in knots. Mud and grass were being thrown in his face. Lance forced him back the main support beam and wrapped his arms protectively around him as the twister finally hit the truck. It slammed the front end into the bridge hard. The wind was deafening. The wood planks above them groaned and jerked as the tornado ripped one off at a time. Nails and wood piece rained down on them as the board broke apart. Lance put a hand over Keith's head as the storm raged on around them. The screeching of metal rang out as the truck hit the bridge one more time. They waited for it to be over for a couple more minutes. Soon the winds quieted down and everything stopped.

Finally, Lance let out the breath that he had been holding and opened his eye to view the damage. Once he realized the twister was gone, he released his hold on Keith. “It's gone,” He said in relief, “it's gone.” Thank god. That was a super close call. They stared at each other for a second, both were covered in mud and grass but they were alright. After doing a once over on Lance, Keith looked at him, his eyes widening as a search for something.

“Uh... Where's my truck?” the twister must have picked it up and there was no telling where it would land.

They were almost out of the trench when the sounds of metal and glass hitting the ground along with screeching tires alerted Keith as to which direction to look for his truck. “oh there it is,” he said as the truck lay upside-down on the road.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The rest of the team had stayed back to allow for a buffer zone between them and the twister. Unlike Keith and Lance, they had all continued driving along the road that ran parallel to the ditch. They had all watching as the tornado tore across the fields heading straight for where they last saw the red truck. Soon enough the looked on in horror as the winds picked up Keith's vehicle and throw it and along with a tractor that had been sitting on the bridge.

Nyma had never been this close to a twister before. “Oh my god,” she said in awe as the storm finally dissipated. She had been so focused on the storm that she didn't see the red vehicle drop right in front of her until it was almost too late. Screaming she swerved around it then come to a stop on the other side.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Lance watch Nyma come to a stop as did the whole team. “Nyma!” He raced out of the ditch as everyone else was getting out of their vehicles to help her.

“Are you okay?” he heard Shiro call as he ran over.

Hunk was the first one to make it there. “Are you okay?” he asked as he helped Nyma out of the truck. She was still screaming. Hunk cupped her face as he led her away from the door, “you just missed that truck!” he informed her. It's not like she didn't know that or anything but she was clearly in shock. “Oh my god! You just missed it!” he repeated.

Lance finally came into her line of site calling her name. She pushed Hunk aside and ran to Lance. “Lance! Lance!” she cried. She was shaking as Lance hugged her. He brought her back out to arm's length to check her over. “I'm okay, I'm okay,” she assured him, wrapping her arms around his waist again. Lance cradled her in his arms as Hunk started talking again.

“Lance, she just missed the truck!” he ran his hands through his hair, “I can't believe that!”

“Are you okay?” she asked into his shoulders.

He hugged Nyma tighter, “yeah I'm alright. We were perfectly safe.” Lance brushed his hand through the back of her hair with a soft 'shh' trying to calm her down.  
While Lance took care of Nyma, the rest of the team checked on Keith. He was fine but his truck and the pack clearly were not. “ The pack is wasted!” he said making his way over to the wreck.

“Now wait we might be about to recover some of it!” Coran argued as he followed Keith.

As they walked past Lance and Nyma, Keith quietly asked, “you okay?” Lance gave him a nod as he hugged her tighter. Everything was going to be okay.

Keith walks around to the driver side of the truck while the team inspected the damage to the equipment. Hunk was already waiting there leaning on its side. He was laughing to himself, something he tends to do in stressful or intense situations. Keith looked at him for a moment before he bent down to check some of the sensors. They were ruined, just like he thought.

“Well there's some good news, she did fly,” Hunk said, earning him an odd look from Keith, “so what was it like?”

Keith stopped what he was doing to fully look at Hunk, “uhh it was windy,” He said. Hunk started laughing again 'windy' he reaped to himself.

“Hey the auto club's here,” Shiro commented as Sendek and his team drove up. Keith stood up as the passed giving them a death glare.

Pidge ran up to Sendek's window, practically jumping into the vehicle, “Hey, you fashionably late again, Sendek? Fashionably late, huh?” She leaned right into the cabin, “Come here let me give you a kiss... with my fist!”

“Get outta here!” his driver and second-in-command, Haxus hissed, pushing her out of the window, but it took her brother Matt pulling her off before she left let go.

“Losers!” she yelled as the rest of the Galra team drove by. God, they made her so mad! Yeah, she hated them but what kind of people would just drive by an accident scene without even asking if everyone was alright.

While Pidge was still insulting the other group, Keith broke the driver's side window so he could retrieve his bag. Pulling it out he shook the glass off and placed on top, or actually the bottom of the truck which was now facing upward and dug through the rest of the cabin for a few other things. As Allura, Coran and the other collected as many of the good sensors as they could to use for the other packs, Keith looked over at Lance who was watching them work and still comforting Nyma. “Do you have full coverage on that truck?” he questioned.

Lance gave him a knowing smile, “liability only.”

Keith sucked in a breath between his teeth, “liability only” he shook his head, wiping his face off with the towel he just took out of his bag. “it's a very pretty truck,” He complimented Lance, hoping if it works he could use his truck for the next round. Keith's was wrecked and it was Lance's fault so why shouldn't he be able to his truck!

Unfortunately for Keith, Lance knew where this conversation was going, he gave him a dry laugh, “don't even think about it,” but Keith was giving him that look, “No way!” he shook his head.

Needless to say, it didn't work out for Lance. It never seems too. The second Lion of Voltron, the green one, was sitting in the back of his truck in a matter of minutes and they were on the road again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for keeping up with this fic so far! I love reading your comments and things so please continue doing that, it really does help encourage me to keep writing this! If there is anything that I need to fix, please let me know so I can do that right away. Once again, thank you for all the support and positive comments! ^_^ I hope you enjoyed this chapter! There will be a few more to come.


	5. Chapter 4: Twins

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Quick note- 2 things! 1) Happy Birthday to the most beautiful person ever a.k.a Lance! 2) Updates may slow down a little since I actually have the things I need to do my job at work, so my writing time has been cut a bit but I will try to get them out as fast as I can!  
> Okay, that's everything! I hope you all enjoy this chapter! Please let me know if there is anything I need to fix. Thank you for your time!

Just like that, they were back at it again. Only this time Keith was sitting in the front seat of Lance's blue pickup truck. With the green lion of Voltron now resting on the bed of the truck, they raced off to find the next tornado.

“This is the caboose. This is the caboose. I'm waiting for orders boss,” Hunk's voice boomed through the cabin causing both Keith and Lance to reach for the radio. When their hands touched they both drew back and waited, after neither of them made of move they tried again with the same result. Keith laughed shyly as Lance looked at him.

“Go ahead,” he offered.

Keith shook his head, “no it's your truck.”

Waving his right hand, Lance nodded toward the radio, “no, no, you should,” he insisted. With Lance's approval, Keith grabbed it and radioed back to Hunk.

“Hunk, the battle zone should be northeast of 81,” Keith was studying a map to make sure he was right about the location. Nyma sat forward to look at Lance while he drove. Her expression becoming more concerned when Hunk replied.

She looked back and forth between the two in the front seat, “battle zone! What do you mean?what are we doing?”

Lance quickly looked behind him at Nyma, she was still very uneasy about the accident that just happened so he smiled to assure her things were fine, “We're going again.” he answered.

“Again! But you almost got yourself killed back there!”

“No, no, that was just a close call,” Lance said cutting her off before she could complain anymore. Checking the rear-view mirror, he smiled even more as he looked at the Green Lion of Voltron sitting in the back of his truck. Lance still could not believe that the team actually built them. He was so proud of them, Voltron was going to save lives and it was all because of them.

Coran's voice came on the CB, “You're going to cross 15 at Oklahoma 412. 412.”

“Okay, copy that! Matt, what's on the mesonet?”

“Winds continuing to back. VILs are at, uh...60.” Matt gave a quick reply. With that information, Keith looked over at Lance, with a glint of excitement in his eyes but there was also a small hint of him looking for his approval. When Keith got a smile from Lance, he knew it was on, they were going again! “okay guys, let's go get it!” They drove on passing fields and farm animals. Soon Keith leaned over the centre console to check Lance's speed. Nyma was giving him a questionable look from the back seat the whole time. Lance was only driving about 80 km/h. Keith let out a frustrated groan, 'of course that was his speed! We will never make it in that at this rate' Keith thought.

At the sound, Lance glanced over to see him putting his hand over his face, clearly annoyed. Lance then checked his speed. 'Oh, that's why.' he wasn't going fast enough for mister crazy driver over there. Always one for a challenge, he stepped on the gas and shot up to almost 120km/h.

Not too far ahead of them, the Voltron team could see the Galra running perpendicular to them and beyond their vehicles, a tornado was ripping through a field.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Sendek was furious when Keith and the rest of the Voltron team left the diner ahead of them but after witnessing their encounter with the twister earlier he wasn't so upset. When he drove by them and their destroyed vehicle the only thing he could think was how pathetic they all looked. Keith and Lance were covered in mud, both resembled dirty wet dogs. He laughed as they passed the group. Now that Voltron was a Lion – as they affectionately called their instrument packs – down and lacking a lead vehicle, it was his chance to shine and he was not letting that go.

The Galra sped off after passing the accident to catch the next storm. He was in hot pursuit of it as it ate through the fields to the right of him. This was it, this was their chance!

“Hey, mobile lab, is it me or has the main updraft shifted?” Sendek radioed to the crew while looking at his own radar map.

“Upper-level winds are veering, sir” someone responded.

Sendek looked up at the tornado then back to his map, “uh huh, this thing might dissipate. Do we have enough time to get ahead of it?”

“Let me check for you sir,” the same voice as before answered.

Back in the mobile lab, crew members frantically checked and rechecked all the data that was coming in from the NSSL and the radars, “Sendek, sir, good south-east gusts at 40 miles per hour, approaching 150 in the funnel,” a technician replied.

Sendek smiled, “We're in perfect position. Let's proceed.”

As his team drew closer and closer to the tornado, Sendek's driver, Haxus spotted movement in his right side mirror. It was the Voltron team, with Lance's blue truck in the lead. “Oh Howdy, You've gotta admire their spirit.” Haxus joked as the opposing team closed in fast. Sendek watched the mirror as the blue truck drove up beside them, He gave Haxus a death glare for his comment then went back to checking radar scans. Once Lance was right beside him, they exchanged fake smiles then continued what they were doing. Soon after Sendek heard tires screeching and Lance instantly disappeared from his peripheral vision. He turned his head to see that Lance had come to a complete stop on the side of the road. Confused by the action but not willing to miss the tornado his team pushed on.  
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

After sharing an extremely fake smile with Sendek, Lance took a quick study of the clouds and tornado ahead and instantly put his foot on the break. As soon as he did it, Keith cried out, “What are you doing! What are you doing!”

Lance continued to examine the sky, “look at the updraft.” he eyes flickered to Keith, “the angle. It's going to shift its track.”

“Are you sure?” Keith questioned looking at the twister.

“Oh yeah, it's definitely a sidewinder. It will move left.” He answered keeping an eye on it.

“Is that bad?” Nyma asked but Lance didn't seem to hear it.

Turning to glance behind the truck, Lance asked, “wasn't there a road back there?”

Keith did a fast check to be sure of both the road and the twister. It was changing direction, “you're right! Go! Go! Go! Go!” he yelled as Lance shifted the truck in to reverse and slammed on the gas. Once he was in front of the left side road, he switches to drive and took it as fast as he could. Just in time too because right behind them was the rest of their team. The dirt road was muddy and full of huge puddles. As they drove through them, water splashed up over the roof.

The silence that filled the truck as they drove was soon broken by a phone ringing, to be more specific it was Nyma's phone ringing. Unfortunately for her, she has to answer it, “Dr Nyma Hunter here. Oh. Oh. Oh, hello, Donald. You've caught me at a bad time.” she paused to listen to the person on the other side, “This feeling of inadequacy is coming from you. Julia doesn't resent you. We've talked about this before. She did not marry your penis. Oh, O.K. She didn't only marry your penis.”

Keith gave Nyma an odd look as she continued her conversation on the phone then he looked at Lance with a raised eyebrow, expecting an answer to the odd topic happening in the back seat. Lance laughed at his facial expression before saying, “She's a reproductive therapist.” Keith nodded and gave a soft, “oh” before looking away.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

“Looking good. Looking very good. All right, about 4 miles up, hang a right. Let's deploy, and we'll be done.” Sendek said examining the data as his team continued on after Voltron had suddenly left. The tornado was raging on in the field just next to the time. All kinds of debris were being thrown around at the base of the funnel making it a thick brown cloud. Although unlike what his data has projected, the twister was shifting its course.

Hexus noticed this first, “Uh Sendek.”

Sendek looked up from his work, not very impressed by Hexus' tone before eyeing him. Hexus nodded towards the funnel as it moved.

“Shit! Shit! It's moving away!” Sendek cursed as the twister did indeed move to the left like Lance had predicted. Hexus could just see the other team as they drove almost parallel to them, heading straight for the storm.

“Looks like they're going to intercept.” he pointed out as Sendek followed his line of sight. He pulled out binoculars to get a better look at them. The more he looked at them the madder he got.

“Dammit, mobile lab! I thought you said this thing was going to stay on the same heading!” He yelled through the com-system. They were already too late to change their direction and beat them.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

As Lance and the team pursued the storm, road and weather conditions started to worsen. Rain hit the windshield hard and heavy as the sky turned black with small hints of green. “We're close,” Lance muttered turning the wipers on. Nyma's conversation still going on in the background.

Keith was still giving Nyma an odd look as she spoke with the person on the phone. 'How did Lance find a person with that kind of job attractive?' he thought. His inner monologue was broken by the sound of rain and Lance's voice. He looked up to check the clouds then pulled his radio headset on, “Coran what road are we on? Where does this take us?” he asked as the twister continued destroying the fields to the left of them. When he didn't get a response from him, Keith switched to the hand radio to contact another member, “Sam! Sam come in. We have to get ahead of this storm. What's on the satellite?” he pushed his hair out of his face and leaned forward to get a better look at what they were dealing with.

Sam's voice came through a little bit muffled because of how loud the rain way and Keith didn't catch all of what he was saying, “Shifting due south, shifting due south. We have an F-2, ladies and gentlemen, possible F-2 okay? Readme'? There's very, very large rope on the ground.” but he did get the important parts. Before he was able to respond to Sam, Shiro's voice cuts in.

“It's shifting! It's shifting! The atmosphere is very unstable. I repeat unstable.” soon enough everyone was giving Keith their information.

“This is Allura, This is Allura, It's at 2:00. It's heading this way!

“This is Matt, This is Matt! We are driving due east on a country road. We've been on it for about 10 Kilometres! We've got an F-3, too, sitting on the ground, and she's a beauty. Whoo-hoo!”

“Keith, it's the bar burner. Barnburner. It's not going to hang out long. It's not hanging out long!” Hunk's voice was the last one to come through before they got a visual on it.  
it was picked up speed as they drove closer. 

Several kilometres ahead of them lightening flashed. “We're getting slammed in here guys, you better hang back,” Lance said to the team. Slowly his trucked pulled away from the group. Keith and Lance shared a look. They were now going at this alone as the vehicle crossed over a bridge. Nyma looked around in fear as they kept going. 

Keith spotted a camera in the cup-holders, 'perfect' he thought, they could now document the weather conditions. “Is this thing loaded?” he asked quickly.

Lance slid glanced at Keith to see what he was referring to, “yeah, go for it,” he said after noticing he was talking about the camera.

Keith started to take pictures when he saw the rain's formations on the window. “Rainbands,” he muttered studying them. Then looking past them he could see fields beside the road, “ look at the surfs coming off those fields.” Kieth pointed out it Lance.

“Shit! Horizontal rain. Hang on,” he cured. The roadway slowly becomes mud as they come up to a section the crossed over what use to be one big lake and the causeway they were on had no metal rails lining the edge. Things were becoming dangerous. The lightning flashed around them still as the sky started to look unnatural. The formations were eerie and it appeared as if multiple funnels were swirling around.

Keith kept his eyes on the sky as the drove further and further into the storm. “Jesus, Lance I have never seen it clouded like this before.” Keith was in awe. On either side of them, water cyclones rose up to the clouds and it seemed like more wanted to form.

“I don't think anyone has,” Lance replied. He was getting nervous as he watched the clouds. If something were to happen there would be no way out. Even with that in mind he still pushed forward.

“Lance, we're in the core.” Keith was almost breathless. Lance glanced over at him with an almost haunted expression. They were both worried. This was a bad idea and a bad spot to be in. Maybe they bit off more than they could chew chasing this tornado. By the time both figured that out it was too late to turn around.

The water cyclones raged around them as the drove onto the causeway, both were still far away from the truck but unfortunately for Keith and Lance, the one moving on their left had other plans. Lance watched as it split in two. “Shit! We have sisters!” he called out. Keith brought the camera back up to his eye to take a couple pictures and Nyma's phone rang again.

“We're right under the flanking line,” Keith pointed out as the water spouts raced closer to them.

“I realize that,” Lance stated trying to focus on the road ahead.

“We can't attack this thing from the south. We're going to get rolled.”

“Watch me.” Lance challenged as the sped passage between the lakes. Keith really needs to learn that he has to be careful about what and how he says things around Lance because he takes almost anything as a challenge.

“Julia I know you're upset but you need to breathe, we both just need to breathe,” Nyma said frantically into the phone as she ran her hand through her blonde hair. She was starting to panic in the back seat. Just as she finished saying that debris, in the form of a living cow that flew by truck.  
Everyone in the vehicle watch in shock and awe as it passed by them. “cow,” was the only word Keith could form at the moment.  
“I've gotta go, Julia, We've got cows,” Nyma said as she watches in horror as the cow passed them again.

“Another cow,” Keith marvelled.

“Actually I think that's the same one,” Lance commented.

As he focused back on the task at hand, which was trying not to get them all killed, Lance notices the irregular movements of the cyclones. “Dammit, we have drunkard here! We've got no path,” he said desperately searching for a safe course of action.

“This is not good! Get us out of here!” Keith ordered as he watched the clouds.

“I'm trying!”

“Floor it!” Keith yelled. Lance obeyed and sped up. Unfortunately, though, that was a bad choice. As the truck barrelled down the straight across the open water the twin twister came right at them. Nyma started screaming and Keith grabbed on to Lance's seat with one hand as he told everyone to hold on. Lance slammed his foot on the break and the truck slid on an angle. One cyclone hit them head-on while the other collided with the back.

As water poured over the truck, the force of the two twisters sent them group spinning in slow circles as Lance tried to fight the pressure and keep them from sliding off the causeway. The winds screeching across the windows and along the frame of the truck, Lance soon gave up holding the steering wheel and braced his hands against the roof. As fast as the cyclones hit them, they were gone. Dissipating back up into the clouds. The truck was left doing one final spin before it came to a complete stop. The windshield whippers were still going as the last of the water rained down on the truck. They all sat in shock for a second. Then Keith and Lance shared a look of excitement with each other before hurrying to get out of the vehicle. They were both laughing and cheering as they rounded the front.

“Did you see that! Oh my god!” Keith gushed as he ran into Lance's arms.

“That was incredible!” Lance pick Keith up and spun him around before putting him down again. Keith pointed up to the clouds repeating his last phrase. They were bursting with pure excitement. That was probably one of the most amazing things they had ever experienced. In all their celebration they forgot about Nyma who was just now slowly emerging from the truck. Lance looked over to see her still wearing an extremely shocking and slightly terrified expression. He did a double take between Keith and Nyma before he rushed over as the rest of the team pulled up.

“Oh, honey. Honey!” he said as he hugged her. “It's okay, it's okay.” he hushed her while stroking her hair. Nyma pulled herself out of his grip until she was able to look at his face.

“I'm not okay. I'm not okay, this is not okay!” she cried ducking her head back into his chest.

“Oh Christ I'm sorry.” he kissed the top of her head, “I didn't think.” She moved away again to look at him while she spoke.

“You know, when you used to that you chased tornadoes, deep down I always just thought it was a metaphor.” She muttered. Lance cradled her as she cried.

Keith, on the other hand, couldn't be any more ecstatic about the whole ordeal as he celebrated with his team. “Did you see that!” He cheered as Shiro ran up to him from the back of the group. He fussed over Keith a second to make sure he was alright before joining on the celebration. The team couldn't believe what just happened. It was horrifying but amazing to watch.

After that, they all gathered around the back of Lance's truck to check on the Green Lion. Keith and Shiro jumped into the box still carrying on their conversation, “I was right in the middle of it!” he exclaimed.

Sam followed them to the side of the box and interrupted with a slight bit of a panicked tone, “I was thinking it might not be too bad of an idea if we just got the hell out of here 'cause there were too many tornadoes back there.” He always gets a little nervous when his teammates get too close to danger.

“Are you kidding!” Keith said, he looked up at the sky them all around them, “this thing isn't over yet! We've only seen the start of it!” he went back to inspecting the device when Matt spoke up.

“Hey, you know what, Keith? Some of us couldn't help but notice how close we are to Wakita,”

Keith stopped what he was doing at gave him a quick and hard, “no”

“Uncle Thace wouldn't mind a pit-spot right?” it was Pidge's turn to make a point.

“No!” Keith repeated

“Red meat! We crave sustenance.” Hunk joined in.

Keith was getting tired of this, “Guys we are not invading my Uncle!”

“Food! Food!” Hunk started the chant and soon everyone joined in. Hunk and Pidge did a little finger dance together as the chanting got louder and louder.

Keith was so done with this! Don't they all know that 'no' means 'no'! Just to remind them and put everyone in their place Keith yelled over the shouting, “Hey! We are absolutely not going!” he made sure to place emphasis on the 'not'. With that said, he went back to check on the Lion.


	6. Chapter 5: Good food and better stories

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry for the slow update. I wanted this chapter to be done sooner but things didn't work out... I had to put my Dog down over the weekend so things have been a little rough. Also, updates are going to be a bit slower this week because my workplace has kids camp going on in the mornings.

Keith had been wrong. Oh so very wrong to trust Coran and Allura to navigate them away from Wakita because before he knew it they were pulling up to his Uncle Thace's house. God, why did he think that they would not make a pit-stop here? He didn't want to burden Thace anymore than he had to and bringing a group of hungry lions (people) was the last thing he wanted but here they were. No sense in turning back now. Besides, Keith hasn't seen his uncle in a while, it would be nice to catch up.

As Lance put the truck in park, Keith could see Thace talking with someone, most likely Ulaz who was one of his good friends. They seemed to be discussing something to do with the piece of metalwork that Ulaz was welding. When he heard the door of the truck close Thace looked over in surprise. For some reason, Thace who was a rather stern person and often hard to get along with had a liking for Lance and the rest of the Voltron team. Keith always thought this was odd but took it as a good sense that he found the right friends to have in his life.

Thace was a tall, muscular man with short black hair that was turning grey along the sides. His hair was pushed back out of this face with gel but he could never seem to get it to lay flat on his head. The sides always flared out at the back. His beard also has speckles of grey. His gold like hazel eyes were different than Keith's own stormy blue ones. Thace was Keith's uncle from his mom's side. After the death of his father then later the disappearance of his mother, Thace took care of Keith until he went off to university. Since then he has been supporting Keith and the others from the sidelines as they pursued the creation of Voltron. He used to be a metal worker before he retired and now he creates elaborate pieces of metal artwork. Most of them were wind-catchers. Him and Ulza normally working together on the larger pieces.

As the group all poured out of their respected vehicles, Thace rushed over to greet them. His whole stoic appearance evaporated into soft laughs and gentle smiles. Lance was the first one to reach Thace, “Uncle Thace!” he cried as he brought him into a hug, “how have you been? I've missed you.” Thace pulled himself out of the hug and placed his hands on Lance's shoulders.

“As have I. I was just telling Keith the other day that it had been a little too quiet around here without you.” he smiled, “Oh and you haven't seen any of my new work.” before Lance could respond Thace's attention was caught by Keith who was now standing beside him.

“Keith!” he said moving over to get a good look at him. Thace clapped his hand down on Keith's shoulder, “you look like you've seen some action.” he noticed that Keith still had some mud stains on his face and neck.

“Oh, you should have seen it!” Keith replied with a smile. He moved out of the way to give the rest of the group a chance to greet Thace and headed toward the house. Everyone greeted him in their own way but as Keith walked away he could hear, Pidge, Matt and Hunk chanting 'Steak and eggs, steak and eggs' and them all laugh when Thace finally agreed.

Once inside Keith, Thace and Hunk got to work making the food while everyone else set the table. Lance headed for the showers and without him around Nyma was a lost puppy, she didn't really know what to do so she just stayed out of the way and watched the others work.

Soon enough they were all sitting down at the table and in the living room handing out food to each other and carrying on a conversation. From the kitchen, Keith could only hear pieces of it over the sizzling of the oil on the stove.

“You know, In a severe lightning storm, you want to grab your ankles and stick your butt.” Keith heard Coran's voice ring out from the table.

“He's right. If you're going to get hit it's the safest orifice.” Pidge added.

Keith could hear Matt laughing as he said, “Yeah, I'd like to get hit by lightning once. You know.”

What in the world were they talking about and how did they get on to that topic, Keith thought. Actually, it's a better idea not to question those three. They were an odd bunch but they were all amazingly smart. Keith was almost finished cooking when he heard Shiro's voice carry into the kitchen.

“Hey, this is real lemonade. Thace I'm moving in here!” had it really been that long since they had all had a decent meal and something other than cheap coffee. Keith shook his head and moved over to the dining room, hot food in hand too.

“You guys, look out. Make a space. Look out, look out.” Sam moved over and ushered Nyma into his old spot which was right beside Hunk, who just sat down. Keith went to work handing out food while Thace did the same. He slapped a big piece of meat down on Nyma's plate with a smirk before heading back to the kitchen to grab the gravy.

Coran watched Thace dish out the food for everyone when he noticed something, “God, Thace. You got a lot of beef. Where did you get all this beef?” He asked.

“Did you see my cows out front?” Thace deadpanned.

Coran stopped eating to look at Thace, “uh no.”

“Oh, oh!” Thace laughed as the realization hit Coran almost smack in the face. Everyone else joined in as a blush of harassment crept up on Coran's face and he continued eating after that.

Hunk was making up a plate for Nyma as he complimented Thace, “you slaughter your own cows, Thace. Nice.” turning to Nyma he slammed some mashed potatoes down on her plate with a quiet, “Potatoes.”

“You better grab some while you can,” Keith said over her shoulder as he placed a bowl of gravy down on the table. Hunk immediately grabbed the bowl and starting dishing some of the contents out onto Nyma's plate.

She gave him an overwhelmed look as he described the food, “Thace's gravy is famous. It's practically a food group,” he told her as Sam tried to hand her a bum, which she politely declined.

Finally, Lance came hopping down the stairs, feeling refreshed now that he was all nice and clear, “shower's free!” he called out as he threw his towel in the basket just outside of the laundry room.  
“I'm next!” Keith informed the group sitting in the dining room as he walked by running into Lance who was just entering. “Oops” he moved around him as Thace handed Lance a plate of food.

As Keith made his way to the stairs he stopped in the living room to see that Allura and Shiro were watching the news, “How can you watch this garbage?” he asked with mild disgust. Lance took notice of the TV after he said that. Sendek was on it and he was being interviewed.

“Oh, excuse me, but you guys got to see this,” he said turning the volume up so everyone in the dining room could hear it. They couldn't fully hear what the interviewer said because Pidge yelled over him,” Watch it, buddy, he'll steal your microphone!”

“Well for me it's the thrill of the hunt...” Sendek's voice was drowned out again by the group booing.

The camera panned back to the news archer as he asked Sendek another question, “Well as a scientist can you actually predict tornadoes now?” he handed the microphone back to Sendek and the camera moved with it to focus on his face.

“Well, no. they are very, very unpredictable, as some of my more unfortunate colleagues found out earlier on today.” Sendek gave a short laugh. Lance watched as Keith's face become more disgusted by Sendek as his conversation continued.

“Urg, turn him off,” Allura scoffed but Sendek's voice continued on the TV.

“But we hope to change all that with a system,” The rest of the group was getting sick and tired of listening to him go on and on about the system that he supposedly created.

“God he sucks,” Hunk commented

“Turn him off!” Pidge repeated Allura's statement for earlier while Matt started booing loudly again.

“What a wiener” Lance added as he turned the TV off.  
Keith, who had stuck around to hear what Sendek had to say, rolled his eye, “Wow he really is in love with himself. I thought it was just a summer thing.” Uncrossing his arms, Keith went back to the kitchen to get some coffee, he needed something strong to get the bitter taste of having to listen to Sendek out of his mouth before he had a shower.

Lance took a seat at the table as Hunk spoke, “Dude, he's going to rue the day. He's going to rue the day he came up against the extreme!” a chorus of agreement rang out as Lance laughed. “Lance, I'm talking imminent rueage. Imminent rueage,” Hunk wanted to make a point. I knew how much both Lance and Keith hated Sendek and he also knew that Sendek was no match for either one of them.

“I was just wondering why you keep calling Lance 'the extreme'?” Nyma's voice finally appeared in the conversation.

Hunk laughed, “because Lance is The Extreme,” then Coran's voice piped up.

“Lance is the most out-of-control son of a bitch in the game.”

Lance looked up from his food and glance over Nyma's shoulder at Keith who was coming back to the table for butter for the bun he stole from the kitchen. He fondly but begrudgingly said, “No, I think I came in second.” he smiled softly as his and Keith's eyes met.

“Oh but I've seen The Extreme in high gear! Especially after Keith challenges him!” Hunk interrupted their little moment.

Keith give off a small laugh, “You guys need to get some new stories.” he takes his bread and coffee as he leaves the table and the group behind saying, “okay well I'm going to go clean up,” and with that he was gone, heading upstairs for the shower.

While Keith was showering Hunk continued to tell Nyma some stories about Lance, “So we get this one near Daleton right?” he was making wild hand gestures as he spoke, “We're way too close and Keith got the vid on it. He was filming it right?”

“Yeah, then all of a sudden out of nowhere this shitty-looking green Valiant comes pulling up right in the way,” Pidge picks up where Hunk left off in the story.

Hunk's laughing as he trying to tell more of the tale, “Keith starts yelling and this loser,” he points at Lance while he attempting to eat without blushing. “stumbles out of the car. He got a bottle of Jack Daniels in his hand.”

Pidge is laughing just as much as Hunk now making it hard for her to talk, “He's naked. Butt naked!” Everyone is in tears at this point.

“Not naked!” Lance screeched,“ I was not naked,” he mutters but no one believes him

“He was without apparel,” Coran added for his spot at the table and the group continues to giggle as Lance tries to defend himself,

“Half naked,” he said hoping that it would make the situation better for himself.

“Naked.” Hunk says and presses on with the story, “So Keith is yelling at him to get out of the way, right? So, he just,” he can't talk anymore. He was just laughing too much at the memory.

Pidge calms herself down enough to pick up where he left off, “he strolls up to the twister and he says, 'have a drink' and he chucks the bottle into the twister and it never hits the ground!” A chorus of voices finished the story off.

“Twister caught it and sucked it right up!” Coran says as he wipes the tears from his eyes.

Lance's voice catches Nyma's attention, “Honey, this is all a tissue of lies.” He looks her right in the eye, “see, there was another Lance, an evil Lance, and I killed him.” The whole team started laughing again. The story ended at everyone began to bring their plates into the kitchen. Hunk offered to wash dishes but Thace told him no. Shiro, on the other hand, had insisted on helping so Thace let him. When the cleaning was down everyone sat back down around the table with coffee and other drinks discussing the events of the morning.

“That was a good size twister, what was that, an F-3?” Shiro asked as he handed out some cups.

“Solid F-2” Lance answered

“See, now you've lost me again,” Nyma said as she tried to keep up with the conversation. She was very unfamiliar with the terms that everyone was using to describe the tornadoes.

“It's the Fujita scale. It measures the intensity of a tornado but how much it eats.” Lance informed her.

“Eats?” she raised her right eyebrow.

“Destroys.”

“The little encounter we had back there was strong F-2, F-3 maybe,” Sam said quietly beside her.

“Maybe we'll see some F-4s today,” Allura muttered into her teacup.

Matt was pouring a cup of coffee for Thace was he replied to her comment, “That would be sweet.”

Lance chuckled as he put sugar in his drink, “Four is good. Four will relocate your house fairly efficiently,” he said passing the milk to Shiro who was now sitting beside him.

“Is there an F-5?” the aimless chatter stopped abruptly as everyone stared at Nyma, “what would that be like?” she hesitated.

“The finger of God,” Shiro answered softly.

Nyma looked around at everyone sombre faces and she was confused, “None of you have seen an F-5?” The group all shared a look at each other debating on who should answer her question.

Then Lance swallowed the heavy lump in his throat and spoke, “just one of us,” he looked over at Thace then up to the ceiling trying to indicate who they were talking about without saying names. The dining room stayed quiet as everyone sipped on their drinks. With a gentle look at Lance and the rest of the group, Thace tapped Shiro on the shoulder and gave him a nod toward the stairs. Shiro understood what he meant and slipped away from the table and headed upstairs to find Keith. Thace was not always the greatest at comforting someone so if he could he usually sent Shiro to do it for him. Which he didn't mind, especially if it was Keith.  
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~  
He found Keith sitting on his bed staring at the knife his mother gave him before she disappeared. It was a beautiful piece of work. Double edge, with a purple crystal placed in the middle of the hilt. When it caught the light just right, the Crystal had an intricate design inside. All-in-all the craftsmanship was stunning.

“It doesn't matter how much you stare at it, you know it won't change a thing.” Shiro broke the silence.

Keith let out a sigh, “I know.” He ran his hand through his hair. Keith was tired.

“Sounds like old times down there,” Shiro said as he leaned against the door frame. He watched as Keith got up from the bed to grab his jacket and put his dagger back in its protective pouch on his belt.

“Yeah it does,” Keith said as he stood in front of the dresser.

“He didn't keep his part of the bargain.” Shiro moved into the room.

Keith looked over at him, scrunching his eyebrows together he asked, “Which part?”

Shiro uncrossed his arms, “to spend his life pining for you and die miserable and alone.”

Keith gave him a breathy laugh, “is that so much to ask?” there was a hint of sadness in his voice.

Shiro understood where the hurt in his voice was coming from. Over the years Keith had lost many things. The biggest being his family. Keith had been stuck in very dark times but when Lance entered the picture things seem to brighten up for him. Keith was opening up again, he gained new friends, new motivation. Lance challenged him at any chance he could get. When they started dating Keith was happy. Shiro was happy, it was nice to see Keith smiling and joking instead of always being so serious about everything. Then Lance asked Keith to marry him. Keith was over the moon. Never in his life had Shiro or Thace for that matter, had seen him smile so much and cry out of happiness rather than sadness. But when Lance was asking for a divorce only two or three years in, the world Keith had built came crashing down. The rest of the group was in just as much shock as him. No one saw it coming, yes they argued a lot but they were how they were. Soon after Keith started to really throw himself into his work. Late nights and close calls were the things Shiro had to worry about. Even Thace expressed his concerns to both Shiro and Keith. Having Lance around for the day, even with Nyma, Shiro noticed that there was a little bit of a spark still lingering between the two. Shiro only hoping that Lance would smarten up and see that they were meant to be together.

Shiro signed again a placed his hand on Keith's shoulder gently, “I don't know. Lance always went his own way, which was usually the same way you were going.”

“Seems like a long time ago.” Keith sounded almost defeated.

“Not so long, Keith.” Shiro was almost whispering, “he's here, isn't he?”

They held eye contact for a little bit longer before Keith broke away. He looked out the window at one of the new pieces that Thace and Ulza made. It was shaped like a spiral bring pulled down from the sky. There was four rotating piece that decreasing in size as they made their way down the spiral. Soft jingles rang out at the wind blow the metal pieces around. It really was a nice design.

Commotion could be heard downstairs and Hunk's voice carried as he yelled, “We've got one! F-3! A mile outside of Parlaine!” Keith and Shiro both scrambled to get down the stairs as the rest of the team packed up their things. The news channel was still playing in the background and if one listened closely they could hear the anchor reporting,

“We have a serious weather situation. This is for Garfield Country including the city of Enid. This is a storm that has developed within the last 15 minutes. First- alert Doppler radar shows that this is a very intense storm.” Keith was running out of the house before he could hear the rest of it.

Hunk was the first one out with Lance right on his heels, “You ride with Hunk okay,” he told Nyma. Lance turned back to Pidge who was rushing up behind him, “What's the word from SELS?”

“The words big!” She said passing him

“Alright, people let's go!” Lance yelled as the rest of the team raced onto the porch. He stepped back into the house to grab the clothes he forgot.

Kieth finally emerged from the house with Shiro beside him, “We know where Sendek is?”

Coran was right next time him as they all rushed down the steps, “yeah, he's still in Milston. More than 30 miles from it.”

“Can we beat him?”

“I'm working on it!” Allura said as she breezed past him.

Thace came out of the house last to stay out of their way. “Thanks for stopping by.” He caught Keith before he left.

“I'm sorry it eat and run!” He apologized giving Thace a pat on the shoulder.

He chuckled, “it's what you live for!” They both said a quick goodbye as Lance jumped down the stairs. He gave Thace a kiss on the cheek as he passed. Thace looked horrified for a moment but then he realized that Lance did that all the time, it had just been awhile since they saw each other. “It was nice seeing you again Lance!” he called out after him. He could see Lance saying something to Nyma before directing her closer to Hunk as he ran off toward Keith and his blue truck.

Hunk walked up to Thace to give him one last farewell, “tasty cow Thace!” he gave him a pat on the back and eyed the brown bag in his hand.

“It's for you Hunk,” Thace chuckled handed him the doggy-bag.

“Awe thanks, Thace! You're the best!” He smiles. Nyma just came up to stand beside him as Hunk finished his conversation. He turned his attention to her, “You and me right?” he asked her, she looked a little concerned and uncomfortable about that.

“Yeah.” She said. Hunk patted her shoulder and ran off to his vehicle. “Well it was nice to meet you,” she put out her hand to shake Thace's.

He grabbed it quickly but kept his eyes on the team racing around, “likewise, now you better run,” he informed her with a light push. Thace tried to hold back on showing his dislike toward Nyma and he was thankful that she didn't have to stay longer. He should his head as the team pulled out onto the road. He gave them all a wave as they sped off.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please let me know if you enjoyed this chapter. One of my favourite lines show up in this one and I wonder if any of you can guess which one that was. Also, the next few chapters have some of my favourite scenes from the movie in them. I can't wait to write those ones!


	7. Chapter 6: Get ready

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In honour of Season Three's premiere today, I thought I would post an update too! so please enjoy and let me know!

Keith beat Lance to his truck but he forgot the most important thing, which Lance had jingling in his hand. “Keys!” he shouted at him as Lance walked up to the door.

Lance dangled them in front of his hands playfully, “please,” he watched Keith grab for them. “You're welcome,” he said when Keith finally had them in his hands. Lance jogged around to the passenger side as he heard Keith yell out to Coran over the CB.

As the whole team scrambled to their respective vehicles, Coran's voice came over the radio, “Let's go right through Wakita. We'll take Meyers Road right past the fire station. We'll take 132 to 44 East.”

Keith stomped on the gas as Lance replied, “Coran, you know any shortcuts, let us know. We need every second.” The group raced carefully through the town until they made it out onto the open road. Said road was actually a well used narrow tree-lined dirt road that ran between farm fields. A classic country style road, really.

“Okay, Coran. Time to impress me.” Lance said

“Alright, about a mile up there's a little detour. We're going to take a walk in the woods.”

Oh God Lance thought as Keith took the next opening. This road was far worse than the other one, at least the one was by the general public. The road they just turned on was a field access road for Farmers. It was in awful condition. As Keith sped along, the truck jumped and jerked over potholes and bumps. One, in particular, sent the truck flying over a small hill on the road. Lance nearly hit his head on the roof when they came back down.

“It get's bumpy here folks!” Lance called out over the CB. Putting the speaker back on its base, he turns to Keith, “okay, let's get you wired.” He grabs the wireless radio from the glove compartment and moves over closer to him. Keith lifts his hair up so Lance can wrap the headpiece around his neck. With the truck being jostled around, the two keep bumping into each other. “Excuse me,” Lance mutters as he slips the power pack across Keith's chest and under his arm to hook it on his belt. His nose bumps into Keith's shoulder in the process. Keith looks over slightly and their head taps gently. He tried not to smile at the closeness.

Lance paused his movement for a moment when his lips grazed Keith's shoulder. The contact gave Lance a small shock, it reminded him of the intimacy they shared. He missed that. Things with Nyma were different, the level of closeness wasn't there with her like it was when he was with Keith. He pulled away from Keith before he could think about it any further.  
“Okay, you're up,” Lance said looking away.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The team continued to barrel down the dirt path for a little while longer. Nyma who was sitting in Hunk's bus was terrified. There was no proper place for her to sit and nothing to really hang on to either. With all the jerking around she was surprised all of his computers and other devices stayed in place. Through Hunk's radio, she could hear Pidge's voice, “see, kids? An ordinary person spends their life avoiding tense situations!”  
“Repo man spends his life getting into tense situations, Pidge! Whoo!” Hunk replied with excitement, which only made Nyma even more scared.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Lance was starting to get antsy as they stayed on the same dirt path for what felt like an eternity, “Okay, Coran, Allura, what have you got?” he asked as Keith rounded another curve in the road.

“Okay, Lance turn left toward that farm,” Coran instructed but both Lance and Keith were sceptical

“You sure about that?”

“Uh... yeah. Trust me. Coran is good. Coran is wise.” he said

“Mother of God,” Keith muttered to himself in horror and at the same time Lance whispered,

“Jesus.” should they really trust Coran to navigate. Well, they had no other choice so they kept going but soon the small path running through the woods turned into on running through a field of corn.

“This is a field, Coran!” Lance said into the CB.

“I know. Keep going, beyond it, right through that brush. You see the brush right in front of you?” Coran's voice filled the front seat of the truck. He sounded confident but that didn't make Keith or Lance feel any better about their situation.

Lance looks around in confusion. There is still no actual road in sight and he has absolutely no idea where they are, “Yeah, we see the brush but what's beyond that?”

“Beyond what?” Coran shoots back.

Both Lance and Keith shriek, “Beyond what!?” they're voices mesh together as they freak out,

“The brush!” Keith cries.

“The Brush! What's beyond the brush, a brick wall? A bearded lady? What?!” Lance fires off in rapid succession. Well, this really does not make either of them place any trust in Coran's ability to get them where they need to be safely manner.

“Oh... um... it's the highway! It's the highway!” Coran corrected himself.

Keith shook his head but kept driving as the road almost disappeared into the field and the corn became taller, it was almost impossible to see over. He was starting to panic now. Where the hell are they going! Where is the road! Keith was going to punch Coran if he got them lost in this field.

Lance sensing Keith's anger rising quickly asked Coran, “Where's the highway Coran?” he could hear Allura over the speaker ask him the same thing, there was a small hint of panic in her voice too.

“It should be any moment,” Coran's just finished saying as they hit the road, almost colliding with Sendek's vehicle as they came out of the field. With the sound horns blaring and tires squealing the group emerged frantically from the corn.

Sendek's voice came over Keith and Lance's radio, “You're insane Keith! What are you trying to do, get somebody killed?” he didn't very happy and that pissed Keith off more than just seeing his face.

He grabbed the radio speaker and while venom in his voice he started yelling at Sendek, “Oh yeah, nice of you to stop back there and more sure we were all right!” Lance started to pull the mic away from him but Keith kept going on his rant, “It was very considerate of you to see nine people on the side of the road and not stop!”

Lance finally had the radio fully in his hands, “let's keep this channel clear,” he said putting it away.

Keith gave out a heavy upset sigh, “Dirtbag.” He kept driving for a bit makes sure to put a good amount of distance between his team and Sendek's. Not too long after he took a glance over at Lance, who face seemed to be contorted in concern and concentration. He raised his eyebrow but since Lance didn't notice him or say anything he focused back on the road ahead. The truck sat in silence for a few minutes until Lance broke it.

“We're going to have to get off this road.” He announced while still studying the clouds above.

Keith did a double take. He couldn't be serious! What is Lance thinking! “What? This is no time to guess,” he argued.

“I'm not guessing! Just make a right turn. Trust me.”

Keith looked at Lance in disbelief. Trust him! Trust him after everything that has happened, this will be difficult. Keith took his right hand off the steering wheel and gestured toward it, “oh do you want to drive?” he snarled.

“Just turn!” Lance shot back in anger. Feeling the rage coming from Lance made Keith realize that now was not the time to get into another argument so he begrudgingly took the next right turn available. Which let them back onto a dirt side road. Keith watches as his team trailed behind him but luckily Sendek did not follow. He tossed another glance at Lance to see him still looking at the sky.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Their unplanned detour did not make either Allura or Coran happy. Neither of them had any idea where they were anymore. “what is he doing?” Allura complained.

Coran gave her a dry laugh and he desperately searched for a map that would give him their location. “I don't know,” he laughed again, “I have to find this road.” He starts flipping through a map book. As he scans the papers he mutters to himself, “what is this? Like Bob's road or something.” he still hasn't found where they are yet and Sam's voice comes over the CB,

“We have a touchdown! Tornado is on the ground, it looks like it's coming down route 33!”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

When Lance and Keith heard Sam, they both looked at each other, “ Keith, we're on 33.” Lance informed him. Taking his gaze away from Keith, Lance went back to searching the skies. Keith did the same thing as he continued driving. Neither of them could see anything so Keith grabbed the radio and called out to his team.

“What's the path?” both of them were still looking for it as they waited for a reply.

“Uh, it's going about 35 miles an hour.” Sam radioed back.

Lance grabbed the mic, “What are you guys looking?” no one could see this twister yet. They needed to know where it was soon so that they didn't drive right into it. He was frantically looking out all the window trying to catch a glimpse of whatever system they were talking about.

“Directions Coran! I need a direction,” Keith said into his hand-free radio.

“North-North-East! Do you copy?” Coran's voice came back.

“Lance, I don't see it yet either so be careful!” Shiro added.

Lanced looked around when he realized something, “shit it's coming right at us.” before he could say anything else Sam's voice played again,

“Axes has gone vertical. Gone vertical! This sucker's really gaining strength.”

At that news, Keith looked at Lance for some sort of answer, but he was still checking out all the windows as the clouds grew darker and darker the further they drove. “Do you see it?” He asked with concern.

“No,” Lance answered. He reached over and grab the mic for the radio again, “Pidge, we do not have a visual. I repeat we do not have a visual. Can you help us out?”

Keith was still concentrating on both driving and searching for the system while doing so he kept muttering to himself, “Where is it? I don't see it!”

“Yeah I got it, Lance, it's the best motions we've ever seen. It's like the base of this fatty is over a half a mile wide!” Matt's voice replied. Why could everyone else see it but Lance and Keith? That thought was starting to annoy both of them as the clouds in front of the continued to blacken.

“Coran!” Lance called out. He still needed directions on where to go.

“If you're going east on 7, it should be coming over that hill on the right in a matter of minutes.” Finally, Lance had a place to actually look instead of just sweeping the entire skyline. A few cars passed them, going in the opposite direction so they much are going the right way. Btu still they both saw nothing. No funnel, no rotation, just black-green clouds.

“It's gotta be there” Lance insisted.  
Keith leaned forward to look more out the front window, “maybe it stalled,” He questioned.

“No I think Coran's right, it's going to show its ugly face right that hill.” He watched as the clouds shifted and the rotations started to show over the trees that lined the roadway. He turned and looked at Keith, “Keith what do you think?” just as he asked Hunk's voice sounded over the radio,

“Are you going to go for it, Keith?” The whole team wanted to know. Was this it, Was this the twister they were going to send Voltron into? Keith looked in his left side mirror at his team following behind him. He was thinking. Should they do it, was this the right one? He gripped the steering wheel a little harder as Lance called out his name. It took another few seconds but Keith made up his mind. This was it!

He grabbed the CB from its stand, “Alright, time for deployment guys. Let's do it, get ready!”

Both Keith and Lance could feel the excitement from the team even though they were in a separate vehicle and further ahead of them. They looked at each other and smiled. This was going to be fun, they thought as Keith drove across a bridge making his way toward the hill that the twister was supposed to be coming around.


	8. Chapter 7: Jumper

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is it reader, the scene that started it all! this is my favourite scene out of the whole movie and I hope a was able to capture that in this chapter. please, please tell me if I did a good job! I really appreciate all the kudos and positive comments! They make me want to continue writing this. I hope that even after I finish this story line I can do some more work with this Storm Chaser AU I have created. Thank you again for taking the time to read this and enjoy!

As Keith and Lance made it across the bridge, the weather shifted and it started to hail. Keith knew his team was far enough behind them at they need warning and the time the hail started for their research, “Hail! We've got hail!” both shouted over the radio.

“Okay, the team's going to pull over at the base of the hill for observation and data collection Keith!” Coran's voice replied. Coran could be very formal some days which usually led to long-winded conversations over the radio. Like right now.

The hail came down harder and harder and grew in size the further they climbed the hill. Keeping his eyes on the skies, Keith watched as the clouds moved and twisted. They blackened drastically near the top of the hill. Any normal person would have been terrified and turned around by this point but not Lance or Keith. They were both determined to get Voltron up in the air. Hoping the team was set up by now Kieth radioed Pidge to notify her of the conditions, “Upflow, Pidge! We have upflow! Copy?”

“Yeah, Keith. I'm checking... I'm checking it! She's almost up.” Pidge answered.

Keith studied the clouds a little longer. He finally made up his mind when he saw their movements pick up, “Lance, right now. This is it!” he said gripping the steering wheel.

Lance looked over at him with a small. He was excited, this was it, they were going to do it! He glances at the clouds for a few seconds before saying. “I'll get her ready!” He climbed into the back seat then through the small window the led into the box on the truck. Once out there he was pelted by hail. He forgot his jacket so the hailstones hurt even more on his bare skin. “Ow!” he yelled as one particularly large one hit him on the side of the face. After that, he reached back through the small opening in the back window and grabbed his jacket. With that on and the hood up, he was ready to go.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

While Lance and Keith drove closer to the forming twister, the team scrambled to set up as quickly as possible. Everyone was running between the different vehicles to help each person get their equipment up and running as well as protected from the rain and hail.

“It's going to be a big one!” Shiro called out as he reviewed some of the data they were collecting.

Sam was moving around from group to group helping to cover the computers with umbrellas and waterproof slips while Matt got to work connect everything together. Pidge was checking the incoming data from the satellites and weather radar. Coran and Allura got set to working on other instruments.

Hunk was working on getting Nyma out of the vehicle and calling Sam over to help him set up the video camera. He was just putting his rain jacket on while opening the side door on his bus when Allura ran up to him, “Did you see him? Did you see him?” it was hard to hear her over the hail hitting the metal roof of the bus.

“What?” he asked loudly.

She moved closer so she didn't have to yell so loud, “The blue truck going right toward the core!”

Hunk's eyes widen, “No!” that's where they were heading. Right for the centre. He started to grow a little nervous but Nyma broke his train of thought when she spoke up behind him.

“She's not about Lance is she?” Hunk shook his head to clear his thoughts away but didn't answer her. Instead, he went back setting up the camera by himself while Sam was caught up helping his son.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

“Are you okay?” Keith yelled back Lance after he heard him shout in mild pain again.

Lance ducked his head back into the small window. “yeah I'm all right! Keep going!”

Not one to ask any more question after being told to continue Keith focused his eyes back on the road and the sky ahead. The hail was picking up speed and so were the clouds that he could just barely see through the haze of the hail and the speed of the windshield wipers. His eyes kept jumping between the scene in front of him and Lance behind him getting the Red Lion of Voltron- they had switched the green Lion out at Thace's place so Pidge could fix it up a bit after the incident with the water cyclones- prepped. As Lance flipped on every switch along the rim of the main body, light and sirens started up indicating that everything was on and working. He moved on to tightening a few things on the stand before moving to the tie straps holding to the bed of the truck.

As he got the first one undone Lance heard Keith on the radio with the team,

“Pidge, We got a view!” that was Hunk's voice.

“Yeah, I can see it! That's no moon. It's a space station!” and there was Pidge. Although before Kieth could respond, tree branches, shingles and a variety of other things started to rain down on the truck. He swerved a little to get out of the way of some of the bigger objects and Lance ducked to avoid smaller things. “Debris! We have debris!” Keith yelled to the team.

The funnel of the tornado finally dropped itself about 2 miles ahead of them. The clouds were black and cluttered with various things it had picked up along the way. Keith was staring at the twister with determination and awe. These weather phenomena were some of the most amazing and dangerous and although Keith studied them for a living he was always struck by how powerful there were.  
While Keith continued to drive straight ahead, Lance struggled to some of the tie straps off. He cut open his knuckle on one and palm on another as he rushed around to get the Red Lion ready.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Back with the rest of the team, Hunk finally had the camera set up and filming. He could see Lance's blue truck heading straight for the tornado as it jumped and struggled to stay on the ground, “They're in the bear cage! Oh my god, oh my god!” he said to himself. Nyma came up to stand beside him trying to hold up an umbrella to protect herself from the rain. It wasn't doing much but it was something.

At first, her presence surprised him but then he remembered that he wanted to show her something, “Nyma, look at this!” he gestured toward the camera but she shook her head, “take a peek! You can really feel it with the telephoto lens!” he tried to encourage her but she held her ground.

“No!” She shouted over the rain and the wind.

“Come on! What's the matter? What's wrong?” He quickly asked as she looked around frantically at the rest of the team.

“You people are all crazy! Do you know that?” Nyma was getting more and more upset with the whole situation. She was cold, tired, and scared for both herself and Lance. This was madness!

Hunk gave her an odd look, “What?” He didn't really hear everything Nyma said. The wind was almost too loud.

Over the radio and in the headphone of his headset Keith's voice rang out loud and clear, “Hunk, are you set up? We're not leaving till we get this!”

Keith's voice threw Nyma over the edge, she was pissed now. Everything always had to be about Keith and Nyma was sick of it. If Keith had just held up his word then neither she nor Lance would be here right now and Nyma would be very happy about that. She looked at Hunk dead in the face and screamed, “and he's the craziest one of them all!” she would have stormed away but she had nowhere to go, so she stayed put but turned away from him as he got back to work.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

“Okay, she's almost ready!” Lance yelled through the back window. There were just a few more straps to go but Keith needed a warning.

Keith threw his head back so Lane could hear him, Okay, hold on!” after that, he turned his attention back to the road. He also moved his headset to his ear so he could tell the rest of the team, “We're almost there. We're almost there!” he called out. As the truck sped toward the funnel both Lance and Keith watched as a small motorboat flew by them and skid across the ground behind them.

After that Lance reached through the back window again trying to touch Keith's shoulder, “Stop! This is fine!” but Keith kept going.

“It could shift. We have to get closer, a little closer!” Keith shot back as Lance was still yelling at him to stop. It wasn't until a tricycle hit the front window that Keith decided to stop. “Alright, that's close enough,” he said to himself as his hit the brakes. The truck wheels screeched as they skidded across the wet ground. He forgot to give Lance some warning and heard him cry out as he hit his head on the edge of the back window,

“Aah! Ow, Shit! Keith!” he was clutching his forehead as Keith jumped out of the truck and ran to the back. Keith felt a little bad but he didn't have time to fully worry about him right now. They had to get the Red lion off the truck.

“Okay, Hurry!” Lance called out to him as he passed by, “get the tailgate!”

“You got it?” Keith asked. 'Well, he recovered fast' he thought seeing as Lance was already moving to the back of the truck bed to undo the last tie strap and to help left the device down.

“Yeah, she's all set, help me get her down!” Lance said.

Keith hid under his jacket as he dropped the tailgate. Lace was yelling at him to hurry and Keith was doing the same right back. They were running out of time as the twister moved closer and closer to them. They were both struggling to get the straps off as the funnel wreaked havoc ahead of them.

Just as they got the straps off, the twister hit something and whatever it was exploded sending more debris and shrapnel into the swirling air. “Damn. We have to go!” Lance cried as he watches the explosion dissipate.

“No, We can still do this! Come on! Come on!” Keith begged.

Lance sped up his actions to help Keith. He knew this was Keith's dream to get this device in the air and he was not going to hinder that idea. So he kept trying to get this one strap off but it wasn't working, the rain had made the tie slippery and the ratchet difficult to move, “Shit! It's stuck!” he kept fiddling with it until he heard the sound of the telephone wires buzzing. Lance looked up to see them moving and sparking violently as the twister on the other end pulled at them. “watch it!” He cried out as the sparks flew over the top of the truck.

They both watched in awe as the twister ripped the poles in front of them out of the ground. The wires sparked and the wood groaned as the each broke. The pole right beside them wavered as the powerful winds pushed it and soon enough it gave out and started to fall.

“Lance!” Keith shouted over the sounds trying to warn him but Lance was already on the move.

“Get down!” Lance yelled to Keith as he jumped out of the box, “Look out!” his words were drowned out by the roaring winds. Keith pulled him away from the truck just as the telephone pole slammed down the bed and shoved the Red loin off the end of the tailgate, causing it to spill its contents all over the road. As the sensors scattered across the ground Keith cried out in distress.

Lance was more concerned about the tornado in front of them as it disappeared back into the cloud. “Where is it? Where did it go?” He kept searching the sky for any sign of it but there was nothing. It was just gone. Although the clouds were still black and ominous. Lance was able to hear the team through Keith's headset, they sounded very upset about what just happened.

“What's going on!” Matt cried.

“Aw, I don't believe this. What the hell!” angry tapping could be heard alongside Pidge's voice.

“What's the Doppler say?” Shiro asked.

“The cone of silence,” Coran said in awe. The radios were quiet for a few moments. Keith and Lance looked at each other then back at the sky. What was happening? It was right there! Everything was fine but it just disappeared. As if reading their minds Pidge's frustrated voice rang through the headset that was resting around Keith's neck again,

“Keith, Lance, it's over. The thing was stable, and-- and the-then it's... it's gone.”

But even with Pidge's information they didn't trust the skies. Things didn't look right. The twister was still there somewhere. The silence was broken by an unearthly groan from the sky. Keith grabbed Lance by the shoulder, he knew what that sound meant, “It's back building.”

At the same time, Lance said, “it's not through yet.” he studied the movement of the clouds and agreed with Keith, “you're right, it's back building! We've got a jumper here!”

Keith quick pulled the headset up to his ear to inform Pidge of the chances, “Pidge, it's back building! You have to track it!”

“Yeah, We know Keith, but the data's incomplete!”

“I think you guys should get out of there!” Shiro's voice cuts in. Of course, he would want to them to leave. This was extremely dangerous! Jumpers were unpredictable but he had a feeling that Keith would not listen to Shiro's warning.

Keith dropped to the ground and threw his coat out flat trying to create a blanket as he started to push the sensors that still littered the roadway onto it. “Lance! Lance help me!” he cried as he desperately trying to grab as many sensors as he could.

“Keith we should leave,” concern laced his voice as he touched Keith's shoulder and tried to pull him up.

“No, no, no!” Keith ripping his shoulder out of Lance's hand. He was not leaving! This was his chance. Yes, he understood that they already failed to a certain degree but there was still a chance if they just tried! “Help me!” he yelled at Lance when he didn't move.

“Forget the sensors!” Lance shot back but Keith still didn't listen. Lance was done with this. They had to leave now, judging by the movement in the clouds that twister was going to be back at any moment.

“We have to out of here now! It's going to jump!” Lance shouted as he picked Keith up off the ground. Kieth struggled as Lance dragged him back the truck.

“Pidge will see it if it drops anywhere near us!” Keith tried to reason with Lance as he kept trying to wiggle his way out of his grip.

“It's not going to drop near us, it's going to drop right on us!” Lance roared as he threw Keith into the truck from the driver's side then climbed in after him. Lance slammed the truck into reverse just at the funnel touched down right in front of them. Keith was screaming at him to stop, to go back, to do anything but drive away from it. Lance didn't care though, they have to get out of there before it was too late. He hit the side of the red lion as he backed up but he didn't care, he just kept going. It started to rain again as the atmosphere shifted. “Forget it, Keith. Forget it,” Lance said with some sadness in his tone because of the way Keith was acting. He was almost hysterical.

“Go back! It's not too late!”

Lance didn't do that, he kept driving backwards for another few seconds before he stopped to change directions. Unfortunately for him, that was the opportunity that Keith needed to jump out of the truck and race toward the sensors that were rolling down the hill.  
“Help me!” he yelled at Lance who finally joined him again after he jammed the truck into park.

“What are you doing!” Lance cursed as he grabbed Keith's arm again. “The pack's wasted. It's over!”

Keith shot up and looked right at Lance, “What is wrong with you!” there was so much anger and hurt in his voice it was unbearable, “We can still do this!” Lance had never seen him act like this before. He was so desperate for Voltron to work that he would risk everything, even his own life. Lance was stunned. He was seeing a different Keith, a vulnerable Kieth.

When Lance didn't answer him Kieth moved away and kept picking up the pieces of the Red-lion that were rolling around on the road.

Behind him, Lance started yelling away, “Jesus Christ Keith! Listen to yourself, you're obsessed!” That did it for Keith. He was now angrier with Lance than he had ever been. He no right to yell at him like that. Lance had no idea what these things were capable of and he never will. Not to the level that Keith knew.

“You've never seen what that thing can do, so don't tell me-” Keith did get a chance to finish his statement before Lance violently argued back.

“I just saw it!” Lance growled gripping onto Keith's upper arm and pointed to the clouds above them.

Keith push lance back hard, “You've never seen it!” all his rage was starting to melt away as more and more emotions felt him, “You've never seen it miss this house and miss that house and come after you.” His voice became smaller toward the end. It was painful to remember what happened in his childhood.

The stared at each other for a moment, “Christ, Keith, is that what you think it did?” Lance made a move to reach out for Kieth but he backed up and turned away.

“I don't know,” Keith said softly as he pushed his wet hair out of his face.

Lance followed after him, “Jesus Keith, why can't you just forget it.”

Keith spun around to face him again, “you don't understand okay, You'll never know.” he threw his arms up in defeat and turned his back to Lance and continued walking away.

Lance kept pace just behind him and attempted to reason with him, “When's it going to be enough huh? How close do you have to get?” he asked but when Keith didn't turn around, Lance surged forward and forced him to, “talk to me!” With Keith arms trapped in his hands Lance shook him a bit, “Keith, things go wrong, You can't explain it, you can't predict it!” Lance's face was scrunched up in anger but started to fade when got a good look at Keith's. He looked like he was going to cry. “Killing yourself won't bring your dad back and neither will it help with finding your mom. I'm sorry he died Keith, but it was a long time ago.” The tone of his voice changed too, he became sincerer and calm, “you got to move on! Stop living in the past, and look at what you got right in front of you.” he gave Keith a soft smile hoping he would understand.

Keith returned his smile with an odd look, “what do you mean?”

Lance signed, of course, he wouldn't get it, there was too many emotion swirling around inside his head, “me, Keith.” he gave Keith's arms a gentle squeeze and coaxed him back toward the waiting truck. Keith was too stunned to put up a fight and got in the passenger seat without another word.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Unbeknownst to either Lance or Keith, the headset around Keith's neck had picked up their whole conversion, which allowed for the rest of the team to hear it, that included Nyma. She listened in on the concern that laced Lance's voice even when he was yelling and the softness in his tone near the end. He sounded so different to her, every word he said had a certain feeling to it that was never there when he talked to her. It was during that their conversation that she realized that there were so many unresolved feelings between Keith and Lance that thing would never work out with her and Lance. At least not like she had hoped. She couldn't compete with Kieth or the lifestyle that he brought along with him. Lance was meant for that kind though, the one a danger and fast pace thinking all kinds of crazy things and she was not. That was not the life she wanted and Nyma could tell that Lance didn't want the same life she did. Things between them were over and she knew it. There was no fighting that.

She watched with a sombre expression as Lance drove back down the hill toward the rest of the team. Everyone was slowly packing up, seeing as the twister was done and not coming back. No one spoke to Keith or Lance about what happened when they arrived.

As a group, they decided to call it a night and head for the nearest motel, she kept quiet about her revelation and sat quietly in the back of Hunk's bus.


	9. Chapter 8: Drive-in

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so I'm actually updating at a decent time for once! I hope everyone likes this chapter! please let me know if you do! Comments and Kudos are highly recommended. They help me out a lot with confidence when it comes to writing this. Thank you to those of you who already have! Now on with the chapter!

The team pulled up slowly to a small mechanic shop, motel and drive-in movie theatre called Galaxy. Pidge parked her vehicle inside the shop so she could repair the Green lion while everyone else left theirs outside. Keith and Lance went their separate ways. Lance went with Nyma to book a motel room for the night and Keith joined the rest of the team to discuss the next plan of action. After a few minutes, they seemed to switch positions. Keith went to have a shower and change while Lance just stood by his truck, and watched the movie that was playing on the screen at the drive-in. Tonight's list of films were horror movies, The Shining and Psycho, Lance enjoyed those kinds of movies but he wasn't really in the mood to actually pay much attention to them. He mainly zoned out thinking about the events that just happened back on the hill.

Over the sound of the movie, thunder rumbled and there was a bit of lightning but no one seemed to mind since there was no rain. Lance could just barely hear the radio that was playing in the mechanic's shop, “This afternoon, a dry line pushed backwards into central Oklahoma has backed into western Oklahoma in response to another approaching upper-level disturbance. As the disturbance interacts with the dry line, thunderstorms are likely to continue to develop. Some of these storms will likely be severe with tornadoes, large hail, and damaging winds. Due to significant vertical shear, damaging tornadoes are possible. The threat for severe weather is expected to continue through tomorrow morning when the dry line should clear the area, persons in the listening area should remain alert throughout the night for changing weather conditions and listen for weather statements and possible warnings,” the news report said as Lance watched Keith walk back to the group. They made brief eye contact before Keith broke it off when he turned to hand his bag to Shiro who was sitting in the side door of Hunk's bus.

Lance watched as Shiro handed Keith some paperwork. Lance needed to talk to Keith but he was waiting for the right moment and now seemed like a good enough time for it. He took a deep breath, and started moving toward the two, he slowed his pace as they looked up and gave him an odd look, Shiro had one brow lifted and Keith a flat expression, Lance quickly shifted his direction back to his truck, his conversation could wait just a little bit longer.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

While Lance was awkwardly trying to communicate with Keith, Nyma flopped unceremoniously onto the motel bed. She had changed out of her white suit into a pair of jeans she found in the truck and one of Lance's extra shirts. In the room, the fan was gently blowing cool air across her face as the weather network played quietly on the television in the background. “...for several counties. And there have been tornado sightings, the latest reported just to the northeast of Canton. That was a few minutes ago. Hold on a second. I've just been handed this. O.K., this is official now. A tornado has been reported moving through Canton just a few minutes ago.” Nyma paid little attention to the news report while she spun her engagement ring around her finger. If one were to look closely they could see tear tracks glistening softly under the dull lights.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

After Keith watched Lance veer away from him, he got up and headed over to the snack bar area of the Drive-in. As he walked there he ran over everything that had happened over the course of the day. Thace was right, it did feel like old times having Lance back on the road with them but something just didn't feel right. Keith knew he had to let Lance go, let him live the life he wanted to, not the one that follows him around constantly worrying about his safety. God, Keith knew that! It was just so hard for him to let go though. By the time he got to the window of the snack bar, Keith had made up his mind.

The girls behind the glass were chit-chatting to each other, so Keith had to lean into the opening to get there attention, “Excuse me, can I have eight coffees to go please.”

The girl closest to him turned, “eight?” she repeated a little surprised.

“Yeah,” he confirmed. When she turned her back to him to start getting the drinks ready, Kieth reached through the window and grabbed the pen that was sitting on one of the serving trays and went over to the picnic table to sit. As he sat down he scanned the area around him to make sure no one was watching him. Deeming the coast clear Keith unfolded the divorce papers he stole out of Lance's truck when he wasn't looking. Flipping to the last page, Keith took a deep breath, 'this is it' he thought. He had finally made up his mind, he was going to sign the divorce papers and let Lance go. This is what they both needed, not wanted but needed. With slight hesitation, Keith signed the document. Once done he folded it back up and put in his pocket.

He got up to fetch his coffees and return the pen just as Lance approached the snack booth. Keith tried not to watch as Lance leans over to the order window, “Two coffees please.” He said calmly to the girls then turned to study Keith. He paused for a moment before speaking, “long day, huh.” he said as nonchalantly as he could.

Keith looked up at him briefly and gave Lance a quick, “Mm-hmm” before going back making the team's coffees. Lance nodded his head when he realized that Keith didn't really want to talk him at the moment but Lance was not going to give up. He had an idea and Keith needed to hear it.

Placing his back against the counter, Lance looked off to where the rest of the team and the remaining pieces of Voltron were parked. “You know, I've been thinking about the sensors. The way they scattered out there on the highway.” Lance sighed and shook his head slightly, “I'm starting to wonder whether the funnel will carry them like we thought.”

Keith gave Lance another short glance, “too light?” he asked.

“I don't know, maybe the whole thing's too light.” Lance mused.  
Keith shot him a tired look, “what can we do about that?” the team had worked so hard with what little money they had to construct Voltron and now Lance thinks it's too light, well what were they going to do to fix that problem. They had no money and no time left to figure that out.

Lance ran his hand through his hair and let out another sigh, “I'm not sure.”

The TV behind the girls in the snack booth was still playing the news channel and the news anchor could just barely be heard on the low volume, “This is a tremendous situation, a very dangerous situation. If you have loved ones in the Canton area, do not try to help them at this point. You'll only be more of a hindrance--” Lance just caught a small part of it when one of the girls handed him his coffees.

“Thank you,” he said with a flirtation smile just as the TV screen flickered between static and the news station. He stared at it for a moment before moving away to study the sky. Keith glanced up to see the same thing Lance did and watch him as he left. They both started walking toward the edge of the building to get a better, clearer view of the night sky above. The wind picked up and the thunder roared louder as they both started to realize what was happening. The lightning flashed and their eyes widened as they saw it.

Hunk who had been monitoring the radars from his bus, all of a sudden burst out cursing, “Shit! It's coming!” he yelled as he pushed passed Shiro and Matt who were hanging around the bus doors. They first watched him run off then turned to see what he was talking about on the screens. The rest of the team was in the shop when they heard Hunk yelling, they understood what he meant and scrambled around to collect their equipment.

“Keith! Lance! It's coming! It's headed right for us!” Hunk called out and he ran closer to make sure they heard him, when they acknowledged him, Hunk jogged back the shop to help the others.

“It's already here!” Lance said staring at it. “Everybody underground now!” He yelled as the tornado sirens sounded.

Nyma came rushing out of the motel as Lance was shouting at people to move, “Lance!” She cried run toward him.

When Lance hears her voice he shifted his attention from the approaching storm to her, “honey!” he called out as he jogged over to meet her. The sirens were quickly being drowned out by the roar of the winds. Lance grabbed Nyma's wrist and darted for the mechanic shop where the rest of the team was gathering. As the ran Lance kept an eye on the twister as it ripped through the field just behind the movie screen. Moviegoers screamed as they scrambled out of their vehicle to someplace safe.

Keith watched in awe as the lightning flashed, illuminating the dirty funnel cloud as it moved closer. He was almost in a trance, as all the sounds around him started to melt together. He took a few steps toward it and he would have kept going if not for the sound of Lance's voice breaking through the chaos.

“Keith! Keith! Keith come on!” Lance cried trying to get his attention. Thank god it worked because Keith whipped his head around to look at Lance before turned it back to the girls in the snack booth. They were standing there in shock when Keith banged his hands against the glass.

“Get underground! Take cover right now! Go!” He shouted, relieved to see them all finally moving away in a panic. Keith took off toward the shop to be with his team as the winds started to tear the movie screen apart, sending bits and pieces flying through the air. More and more people started screaming as they all rushed for cover.  
Overall the noise Keith could hear Hunk yelling out commands,

“Doors! Close the doors!” he rushed through the bay doors to help close them, once they were shut and locked from the inside, Hunk threw open the man door to the right of the bay doors. “Lance!” he cried to let Lance know where they were and how to get in. Keith watched as Lance shoved Nyma through the opening first before he turned around to scan the area.

“Keith! Come on!” Lance gave him a huge gesture to get inside. Keith was almost there when he noticed something in one of the group's vehicles. He quickly stopped and backtracked to see that it was Sam Holt. He was cowering in the foot space of the passenger seat in his truck. Behind him, Keith could hear Lance still shouting at him, “Keith what are you doing? Come back!” but he paid no attention to him. Keith had to get Sam out first.

Keith jumped into the vehicle and reached out to where Sam was hiding, “come on! Take my hand!” he shook his hand in front of Sam's face.

“I can't. I can't” he stuttered.

“Take my hand!” Keith said with more force and Sam finally grabbed it and pulled himself out of the vehicle.

“Come on hurry!” Lance called out again. They both dashed for the door and Lance practically shoved them inside then slammed to door behind them as the rest of the team found a safe place to hide.

“Come on! Here, get in here!” Shiro instructed jumping down into the dugout area where the mechanics would be when they did oil changes or other under-body work. It was cluttering with different equipment and other supplied but there was enough room for the whole team to fit semi-comfortably.

“Everyone down in the pit! Go, go, go!” Lance shouted over the wind as he guided Sam, Nyma and Keith to where everyone else would be. They all stood there and listened as the winds whirled around outside. Not long after, the room was filled with the sound a breaking glass as the window was blown in with great force. Shards of glass were thrown at the team, hitting some of them in the face. Coran got a decent about in the face but it didn't leave many cuts, thankfully. After that, everyone crouched down with their arms over their head protectively. They all watched in awe and horror as the thin metal roof was slowly being pried away but the intense winds. Car parts and metal sheets fell and sparks flew as the twister ripped its way around the building.

High pitched whines and screeching metal drowned out the sound of Nyma screaming while the rest of the team tried to stay as calm as possible. Unfortunately for the group, the strong winds sent something flying into their cover that knocked over a metal tube which hit the air hose. That chain reaction caused the air hose turn on and flail around. Both Hunk and Shiro reached out to grab it before it could cause any damage and hurt anyone. After a few seconds of struggling, Shiro finally caught it.

“I got it! I got it! Aha!” he said with excitement. He would not normally be like that during a storm like this but Shiro was tired and the adrenaline pumping through his veins did many things. Admits his triumph, another window was blown in. This time the hubcap of a tire was launched down into the pit. Shiro took a hit as it ricocheted off the vehicle above them and into his head then off the wall across from him.

Keith watched in a small panic as Shiro slumped against the wall with wide eyes. He was in a slight state of shock. Keith crawled over to him, “it's okay, it's okay.” he said gently as he placed his hand on the gash that ran across Shiro's forehead. Shiro looked up at him with mild confusion before the cut painfully set in.

Keith's attention was drawn away from Shiro when Nyma's cried become louder, “this is not okay! This is crazy!”

“It'll be over soon!” Lance tried to reason with her.

“This is insane! Oh god!” she just kept screaming. “I don't like this! I don't want to be here anymore.” her voice was becoming strained with tears.

Lance and Keith made eye contact, as Nyma cried more. Keith gave him a sympathetic look while Lance looked more concerned. It seemed like they both wanted to apologize to Nyma for everything they have put her through so far but they knew now was not the time for that. They broke off eye contact when a car came flying through the wrecked metal roof. It slammed into Pidge's truck that was sitting just on the other side of the dugout. The force of the collision caused the truck to teeter into the pit. The front driver side tire hung over the pit dangerously but it never fell in. More sparks dusted the team when the winds ripped the drive-in movie theatre sign down and also sent into the metal roof of the mechanic's shop.  
Nyma screamed louder and louder, as the lights flickered and went out. “it's okay honey. it's going to be okay.” Lance tried again to calm her down but nothing seemed to work. She just kept crying. The winds slowly died down soon after that, and an eerie quiet came over them.

The team waited several minutes before slowly venturing out of their hiding spot. They could hear police sirens and other emergency vehicles as they prided open to bay doors. Lance and Keith both stood there in the doorway and observed the damages while the rest of the group went to check on their vehicles.

When Pidge got a look at her's she cried, “Oh, look at the truck. It's trashed!” Pidge's and Shiro's vehicles were totally wrecked. It was Shiro's car that flew in and slammed into Pidge's truck earlier, along with that the Green Lion was destroyed, leaving the team with only two pieces of Voltron left. Yes, Pidge was rather upset that all her equipment was gone but she was relieved that everyone was alright.

Nyma stood in shock beside Lance, her mouth opens in awe as she took in the effects of the twister. Tables and chairs from the snack bar littered the ground. Both the mechanic's shop sign and the drive-in signs were down. The fire department was there to assess the damage and clear out any downed power lines. All-in-all the area was a mess. In her state, she didn't notice Lance step away to help a few people clear away some debris. Finally, she turned to talk to him but noticed it was Coran beside her instead, “Is that what it was like up on that hill?” she asked quietly.

Coran shook his head, “that? No. We were lucky. Those were just downdrifts and microbursts.” he said tiredly and walked away to help Allura move some small things off their truck.

“The tornado just sideswiped us,” Matt added as he walked by.

When Hunk got to his bus. It was surprisingly okay, just a little dirty. He opened up the side doors to hear the news still playing on his TV screens, “...happening with the weather in Oklahoma where tornado activity continues. Uh, reports coming in from Fairview indicate a drive-in movie there was blown away. We know there are injuries. We know the damage is massive.” Hunk watched the radar for a few seconds and left out a worried sigh, “oh no.” There was a multicoloured spot, ranging from weak to the most severe right over the Wakita area.

On his way back from dropping Shiro off at the nearest ambulance, Keith saw Hunk standing at his bus with a map in his hands and a worried expression. “Can you tell which way it's headed?” he asked with concern.

Hunk looked up at him, then down to the map then back to the radar screen, “It's uh, it's backing northeast.” he paused to check one more time to make sure he was right before telling Keith, “it looks to hit Wakita head-on” just as he said the news channel confirmed it.

“...And it looks like it's a heading directly-- directly toward the Wakita area. And, uh, it's very, very powerful.”

Keith just starred at Hunk with wide eyes. Everything seemed to stop in that moment. 'Oh god, Thace!' he thought, he couldn't lose Thace, he was Kieth's only family that he had left.

Lance had turned to look at Hunk as well. He was in shock too but not as bad as Keith. He watched Keith almost stop breathing at the news, then he saw Hunk rush into his van to get things set up and ready to go.

“I'm going. I'm going. Let's go! We're going, it's Thace!” Keith said in a panic and hurried over to Hunk and jumped into the bus to help him.  
“Where's Coran!” he yelled then noticed Pidge standing at the doorway, “Can you find me a route around the storm?” he asked her quickly. She nodded her head then ran off to find the rest of the team. Pidge was yelling as she went.

“Keith, wait!” Lance raced over to him.

“Where's the phone?” Keith shouted. He was practically in full panic mode at this point.

“The lines are down, Keith. I already tired.” Coran informed him. He was now standing beside the bus checking the maps for the fast route while everyone else ran around moving debris out of the way so they could leave.

Lance looked at Coran then back at Kieth, “Dammit, hang on! I'll drive!” he told Keith as he rushed back over to where he left Nyma. He could just hear Coran telling Keith the directions they should take.

“Keith, we can jump on the 38 exchange and cross highway 132...”  
Nyma didn't hear Lance walk up behind her since she was still a little dazed from the experience. He gently grabbed her arm, “honey its Thace. I gotta go.” he said

She gave him a deadpan look, “I'm going back.”

Lance misunderstood what she meant by that, “good, good. You'll be safe at the motel. I'll see you in the morning.” he gave her a kiss on the cheek and started to walk away.

She returned it was a fake smile and a nod, “I won't be there.” the tone of her voice was the 'as matter of a fact' kind but there was an underlying feeling of upset.

Lance turned to her with a mixture of hurt and confusion. He really didn't understand what she was saying but the tone of her voice worried him, “what? Why? What are you saying?” his voice became breathless.

“I'm saying goodbye” she replied shortly.

“No,” Lance whispered, moving closer to her.

Nyma was starting to become teary-eyed as she continued explaining, “you know I can't compete with this.” she put her fingers on her temples as she tried to find the right words, “I wouldn't even know where to start.” She moved her handing in front of her face as if she was praying.

“Wait, don't do this now, please,” Lance whined. His facial expression becoming more hurt as the severity of the conversation hit him. She was leaving him. That was it. Why did she have to do this now though, he couldn't think straight. This was unfair but he couldn't get himself to be mad at her, it just hurt too much.

“Sooner or later, it would have ended. We both knew that.” Nyma reasoned and she was right. Things just weren't working out for them. Nyma was just a rebound for Lance. He wasn't truly sure if he ever did love her that way he thought he did. “the funny thing is...” she continued, “I'm not that upset. What does that even mean?” they just looked at each other after that with a sombre expression. She was right and Lance knew it. God, where did he go wrong? He opened his mouth to respond but he was interned by Allura shouting,

“We can do it! Come on, let's move!” Lance looked over at her directing the team as she rushed back to Coran and their truck. He then turned back to Nyma was with sad eyes.

“I never meant for any of this to happen,” he said sincerely. Police sirens rang out behind him and the flashing red and blue lights dance off Nyma's damp eyes.

“Oh Lance, I know. It's okay.” she nodded trying to reassure him. Lance didn't know what to say and he didn't have time to say anything before Hunk started yelling at him.

“Lance! Come on!” he said sticking his body out of the doors on the bus. He was starting to get impatient. They needed to leave right now. There was no time to waste.

“You go ahead.” Nyma said drawing Lance's attention back to her, “He needs you. I hope that Thace is okay.” she said with sincerity.

Lance draw his eyebrows in, and with a pained look he asked, “what about you?” He felt like his heart was being crushed. He was never good with breakups or rejections. Right now was really not a good time for this. He didn't know how he was handling this as well as he was. Maybe it was because it never truly felt right, to begin with, or there was too much going on in his mind and around him for everything to fully sink in at the moment. He only hoped it would not hurt too much when it did hit him.

“Oh, don't worry about me.” Nyma gave him a pointed look, and backed away slowly, “I know my way home.” her voice creaked a little and she bit her lip to keep it from trembling as she walked away.

Lance stood there for a minute just staring off into the distance with a blank look. The sound of Coran's voice talking to Keith broke his trance. “We can be in Wakita in about an hour!”

“Lance! Come on!” Hunk's voice was even more impatient than last time, and Lance turned around to see Keith watching him from beside the bus with a woeful expression. They didn't say anything to each other when Lance made a gesture for Keith to follow him to his truck. Once they got in, the team took off towards Wakita. The only sound in the truck was Coran's every now and then with directions.


	10. Chapter 9: No warning

It was late in the evening and Thace was reading a book in bed. The day had been a rather uneventful one until Keith and his friends showed up. He always enjoyed it when the gang stopped by for a visit. At first, though, Thace had been a little apprehensive of them, he didn't want Keith to go through the same things he had when he was a kid, where his friends would leave after a few month when they learned that he had no parents and quite a temper. The kids also tended to stay away from him when they found out that Thace and later on Keith preferred men over women for relationships. But when Thace saw how Keith and his team interacted, he knew these ones would stay. They were like a family unit. One that Kieth had always wanted but Thace could never fully give. It made Thace happy to know that Keith was happy.

After the gang had rushed out, Thace spent the afternoon cleaning the house and shop. Ulaz came over for a short period to do some more work on his sculpture then bid Thace good night after they shared dinner together. Now Thace was cosy in his bed with a good book and an old movie playing in the background. He gently ran his hand over his dogs back after every page turn. She was a beautiful black lab named Marmora, thanks to Keith, who convince Thace to get her.

As the movie played softly in the background, Thace could hear the jingling of his wind-catchers growing louder and more violent. He gave the window a questionable look. Placing his book down beside him, he slowly got out of bed to investigate. He has found kids playing with them at night, so he was prepared to scare them off but this was different. It was actually the wind causing all the ruckus. He looked up into the night sky to see if there was a stop brewing but he couldn't see anything. The sky was just too dark. He shrugged his shoulders and made his way back his bed where Marmora was now intensely looking out the window. “What's wrong girl?” he asked but the only reply he got from her was her jumping off the bed and moving toward the door where she danced around waiting for him. He was about to ask her another question when he heard it. The loud, awful noise of tornado sirens. Thace rushed to her side. He could already hear the roar of the winds as they both hurried down the stairs to the storm cellar.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

As the team pulled into Wakita, they all stared in shock and horror. The main welcome sign for the city was hanging off its poles. Sparks were flying from downed power lines and debris littered the road. Sirens wailed and people were crying. The ambulance they were following drove very slow through the non-extant streets. The main strip was practically gone, all the buildings were destroyed and falling apart. There was a very small pathway through the chaos but it was hard to tell which street was what. Emergency lights were strung up along the way while search-and-rescue teams fanned out to look for people and animals. Medical teams shuffled through to worked on the wounded.

Lance and Keith were in the lead, they saw survivors rummaging through the wreckage trying to find anything valuable of theirs. Smoke and flashing lights made it difficult to see the full destruction but they knew it was awful. It looked like a bomb had gone off. “They had no warning.” Keith lamented as they passed by a family of three. They just stood there hugging each other. Keith watched them as Lance drove away and further into the ruins.

It took them a few minutes but when they finally rounded the corner of Thace's street, they were struck by a terrifying scene. Thace's big white house was in ruins. Yes, it was still standing but it could drop at any moment. The front porch was practically gone and its roof was almost touching the ground. The house was at a dangerous angle and the roof looked like it was caving in. The windows were blown in, the siding was falling off, and the shingles were almost all gone. It looked as if the house had been left to rot for years. All the metal artwork on the lawn was gone, except for the one that looked like a twister. How ironic. “Oh my god,” Keith cried softly, his eyes were wide with horror. This couldn't be happening right now, Thace had to be okay! He could lose another family member like this. Before Lance was even able to put the truck in park Keith jumped out and raced across the ruined lawn.

“Keith! Wait!” Lance yelled trying to grab him as he reached over to the passenger seat, but Keith was already gone.

“Thace!” Keith shouted as he came up to the house. He frantically searched for a way inside, “Thace!” the panic was evident in his voice.

Lance left the truck door wide open as he ran over to join Keith, he knew he was about to do something stupid and Lance needed to be there to watch over him, “Keith wait!” With a flashlight in hand, Lance saw Keith perk up when he found an opening. Sparks burst behind Lance as he ran faster to catch Keith before he could go in.

Keith scurried over to the lowest side of the porch roof and hurried up it, “Thace!” he called out again, hoping to get an answer. Lance had finally joined his side and helped him up and over a giant crack in the roof.

“Careful, careful! This house could go any second!” Lance reminded him, but Keith knew that. He just didn't care, he had to get Thace out. That was the only thing on his mind right now, nothing else, not even his own safety.

Keith tripped up the steepest slope and hit the opening window trying to catch himself. Peering inside he could see that the house was a huge mess. The floors were broken and creaked, the ceilings were caving in and all the walls and furniture displaced. Pieces of artwork that was usually on the law were now inside. Keith was about to step in when Lance grabbed his hand.

“Here, take a flashlight.” Lance handed him a small pocket-sized flashlight. Keith quietly thanked him and moved further to the house. The building shifted and a bookshelf fell over just as Lance pulled Keith back. “The whole place is ready to go,” Lance said as he looked around with his flashlight, he was both trying to look for Thace and find the best route to take. The sound of water and other things falling resonated throughout the house.

“Thace!” they both yelled as they moved slowly across the broken floorboards. The house groaned and suddenly shifted again, dropping about of foot. Lance and Keith grabbed onto whatever they could to keep themselves upright.

“Careful,” Lance said. Kieth crossed over a small opening in the floor and Lance follow slowly, trying to be as light on his feet as he could. The floors moaned dangerously with every step. Things creaked and popped as the two moved deeper into the house. “Thace!” Lance yelled out again, shining his flashlight into the pit where the stairs would have been. Neither of them could see Thace anywhere. Lance kept calling out his name until Keith slammed him.

“Shh! Did you hear that?” Keith asked, Lance, quieted down and listened. He waited a few seconds and there was nothing.

“What was it?” he gave a confused look, then he heard it. Just barely, but it was there, the sound of a dog whimpering. As soon as Keith heard it again, he sprang into action. He rushed to lower himself onto the next broken platform trying to get closer to the sound.

“Easy does it!” Lance whispered as he followed Keith. As soon as they were both off, the other side dropped, sending Keith into Lance's side out of fear that something would fall on him. “Careful,” Lance grabbed his arm and they waited for the house to settle again before moving.

Keith let out a breath, “okay,” he said to reassure Lance. They slowly slid down the ruined stairs and the whimpering got louder. “Thace!” Keith yelled again wandering around the next landing until he saw another hole. Shining his light down there he saw Marmora. She was sitting there barking. Lance came up beside him, giving him more light to see the dog.

“Mora, girl!” Lance said in a sweet voice hoping to coax her out but she didn't move, she just kept barking.

“Mora! He's down here! Thace we're here! We're coming down!” Keith informed him, even though he wasn't sure if Thace could hear him or not. He crawled down to where the dog was waiting and there. Not far from her Keith saw finally saw Thace. “Thace!” He yelled out in a panic.

Thace was trapped under a wood frame of some sort. He whimpering and trying to push off the piece himself but his one arm was twisted funny. Under the dim lights, Keith could see blood. That only made him panic more.

“We have to get this off of him!” Lance told Keith and pointed for him to go to the other side so they lift it up. “Hang out,” He directed that to Thace.

Keith was on the other side now getting into position, “don't move, don't move,” he whispered to Thace.

Lance put his flashlight down and grabbed the wood beams, “okay, ready?” He asked.

“Watch your hand. Watch your hand,' Keith rambled on, trying to keep Thace's hands out of the way so they could flip the piece over.

“Go, Go!” Lance instructed. Together they slowly moved the wooden framework off Thace and onto the floor behind them. It was very heavy and difficult to move with the ceilings caving in. Once it was down Keith move back Thace who was still on the floor. Thace was trying to sit up when Keith placed a hand on his back.

“Easy, easy, easy, easy,” he repeated as he helped Thace slowly sit up.

“Are you okay?” Keith asked, the look on his face was almost unreadable, there was so much panic but also relief in his expressions.

“I'm all right. I'm fine!” Thace answered a bit annoyed to hear Keith in such a state because of him. He was going to say more but the build shifted again dropping the floor above them just enough to let dust and debris rain down on them.

“Get down!” Lance said as he tried to cover Thace's head. He looked up with his flashlight and saw that on the piece of floor that just moved there was a small TV just hanging by its cable cord, which was slowly detaching from the wall. The house creaked again under the stress. Lance looked around as Keith tended to Thace, who had a cut on his head. Lance could see that the house wasn't going to last much longer, not with all the structural damage. Keith and Lance shared a look at each other as the ceiling groaned again. “We gotta hurry,” Lance told him with scared eyes.

“Let's go,” Kieth helped Thace to his feet and Lance helped to brace him.

“Think you can walk?” he asked Thace calmly.

Thace stared at Lance for a second then nodded his head, “I'm fine.” He clearly wasn't fine judging by the blood and the slowness but Lance wasn't going to say anything right now. He didn't need Keith anymore riled up than he was.

Just as they started to move, the wall socket that was holding the cable cord for the TV gave way and the floor dropped more. “Lookout!” Lance cried. He threw himself in front of them to protect them from anymore falling debris. The TV fell, just barely missing him and a few more things came with it. Along with that, the entire house dropped about another foot as the supports crumbled. Marmora yelped as more dust and wood rained down.

The team waited patiently on the lawn in front of the house but they had yet to see, either Keith, Lance or Thace emerge. They were all starting to worry. They didn't know what to do. Coran had told everyone not to go inside and risk causing the house to collapse under the extra weight. So they stayed put. The building creaked and groaned loudly. From the outside the team watched in horror as the house dropped, everyone jumped back in shock. The first person to act was Shiro. He raced toward the house yelling, “Thace! Thace! Keith!” he scurried up the same spot Keith did earlier. Hunk and Pidge were right on his tail.

Shiro put his hand out to stop them from following, “someone take my walkie. Matt take my walkie!” he practically threw it him, before he climbed up the rest of the way to the open window. was Hunk right behind him and Pidge was near the bottom to help if needed.

“Thace! Keith! Lance!” Shiro yelled into the house, frantically searching the room from the window.

“We're okay!” Keith yelled, “we're coming out!” Shiro let out a sigh of relief when he heard Keith's voice. 'Oh thank god they were okay.' he thought

“Get an ambulance over here!” Lance's voice carried up through the house.

Shiro quickly turned to his team outside, “Get an ambulance!” he repeated what Lance said, “Coran, now! Go!” he watched him run off to grab the ambulance just driving by. Allura called out to him and threw up a flashlight for him. With that in his hand, he turned back the window and helped guide the three out. Once Thace was out of the window, Shiro and Hunk took over for Lance and Keith, helping him to the edge of the roof where the rest of the team was waiting to lend a hand.

“Alright, here was go,” Shiro gently guided him away from the window. Hunk was on the other side make sure to keep Thace balanced.

“How about some steak and eggs?” Hunk joked, trying to keep the mood a light as possible. Thace let out a weak laugh.

He smiles shyly at everyone crowding around the base of the roof, “how nice, you all came over.” He was passed from Hunk and Shiro to the rest of the team below.

“There you go, nice and slow,” Allura said as she gently led him off the roof and on to the ground. The whole team crowded around him to make sure he was okay. Finally, Coran showed up with a medic in tow and the group parted to allow for the EMT to get a look at Thace.

Keith was right there by his side in a matter seconds, to help him onto the stretcher. Thace look back at his house to see that Lance was still standing on the broken roof, “Lance!” he called out, “grab Mora for me. I think she's a little shaken up!”

Lance wave his hand at Thace in acknowledgement, “don't worry! I'll get her,” He replied with a smile. Turning back to the window Lance crawled in again, “Mora! Marmora! Come here, girl!” He called out.

While Lance was looking for the dog, Keith could focus on Thace. “Is he okay?” he asked the parametric who was doing his routine checks. Shining a light in his eyes to check for pupil dilation and so on. Thace was lying down on the stretcher now. His clothes were a little bloody but nothing was bleeding anymore which was a good thing.

The medic took one last look at him, “We'll probably keep him overnight just to be safe.” he informed Kieth.

“Overnight? Forget it. I'm alright!” Thace protested. He didn't really hospitals all that much.

Kieth glares down at him, it's not a harsh one, just enough for Thace to know that he means well, “You're going to the hospital.”

Thace rolls his eyes at Keith's tone but gives him a gentle smile, “Okay, I'll go but I'm driving myself.” Ambulances were just too expensive him, the hospital trip would cost enough, let's not put more on the bill.

Coran chuckled softly, “Thace, your car's in a tree around the corner.”

Thace let out an upset sound as he put his head back down on the stretcher. Now he needed a new car too! This was an awful night. The group helped light the way for the EMTs to get through the rubble on the way to the emergency vehicle.

As they all moved away from the house, Lance finally reemerged with Mora in his arms. She looked rather scared as they slowly made their way off the broken porch roof. Just as Lance back about two feet away from the house, it collapsed. The lower wall gave out and the roof caved in. The glass shattered and the building moaned and groaned as in fell apart. Everyone watched in amazement and shook. The team had made it there just in time to save both Thace and Marmora and they were grateful for that.

As Thace was loaded into an ambulance, the rest of the gang went back to Hunks van to regroup and study the ongoing weather patterns. The radio was playing the current news channel as the team worked, “The F-4 that hit Wakita has now moved on to the northeast. I've just gotten word in that an even stronger tornado has now started to form 25 miles south of Wakita right where the two storm systems have finally met and combined forces. The weather service is saying that this is highly unusual, and they are saying that this latest funnel, this latest tornado could be the strongest F-5 tornado that this state has seen in more than 30 years. Let's break it down, folks. We're talking winds in excess of 300 mph.”

Hunk monitored the CB radios, while Pidge kept an eye on the radar scans. Allura and Coran were working out the damage path of the last tornado on the maps, Matt and Shiro were helping to clear some debris in the area and Sam was reviewing some other data they had collected. Lance was just sitting in the van beside hunk petting the dog, trying to calm down his nerves.

Pidge pulled her dad over and pointed at the screen she had been just looking at, “oh my god!” she said quietly, “look at this!” the radar was showing a large multicoloured spot, it was huge and very intense. They both couldn't believe their eyes. The weather network was right, they were in for a treat.

Kieth had left to wash his hands since they had some of Thace's blood on them, then he went over to meet him in the ambulance. As he climbed in, he found that Thace was now sitting upright. His head was wrapped with a crisp white bandage and his right wrist had a brace on it.

Thace look up at him, with a gentle smile, one only reserved for Keith, “Hey, what are you doing?”

Keith shimmied his way in closer, “I wanted to see how you are.” he said sitting down on one of the side benches. “how is she?” he directed his question at the EMT from earlier.

“All right,” he said quietly while moving around to put some things away.

Keith turned his gaze back to Thace, “I was worried about you,” he said gently. “Look at this,” he muttered, slowly picking up Thace's braced wrist. His voice was tight with concern.

Thace shifted that wrist to show him that it wasn't a big deal, “it's nothing,” he assured him, “he says I have a bump on the head and maybe a broken wrist.” he confessed.

Keith's eyebrows drew in further with worry, “let me see that.” but Thace moved his hand away.

“There's nothing to see it doesn't even hurt,” Thace wiggled his fingers to show him. Thace was a lot strong and had a high pain tolerance then Kieth realized. These injuries really didn't bother him that much. He had had much worse in the past.

Keith signed, he was tired and upset with both himself and mother nature. “I'm sorry I wasn't there,” he cried softly. He took out a cloth from his jacket, a wet it with his month then carefully dabbed Thace's cheek with it to wipe away some of the remaining blood.

Thace gave him a sideways glance, “Oh stop blaming yourself. You got me out of the house!” Keith paused his movement for a moment, to look at his uncle. Tears were starting to form in Keith's eyes as Thace continued, “Keith, this has to stop.” They looked each other in the eye, “ I didn't have any warning.” Thace looked away as he remembered what happened. “The sirens went off a few seconds before it hit. I didn't even get downstairs.” Keith opened his mouth to apologise again but he was cut off by a different voice entering the conversation.

“Keith,” Hunk said as he stood at the doors to the ambulance. He looked between Keith and Thace before proceeding with caution, he didn't want to upset Keith anymore than he already was. “ I'm sorry.” He began to fidget with his hand radio, “Uh... I was listening to the radio, and I don't even know if you want to know, but it's happening. NSSL's predicting an F-5.” Hunk slowly grew nervous when Keith's face went blank and he didn't answer. Then a single tear ran down Keith's face, Hunk was in a bit of shock. He had never really seen Kieth like this before. He was almost mad at himself for even walking over to tell Keith about the F-5 warns. He was going to say something more when Thace beat him.

“Keith,” Thace drew in his attention with the kindness in his voice, “it's going to happen to somebody else,” he stated. Keith ran a hand over his face to wipe away the tears, “You... you go stop it.” Thace placed a firm hand on Keith's shoulder.

Keith almost collapsed into the touch, “I don't know how.” he cried softly, taking a shuttered breath.

Thace gave Keith shoulder a small squeeze, “Oh I think you do. You have been chasing these things since you were a little kid. It's what you do.” he voice was firm but kind at the same time, “Go. Do it,” and with that Thace gave him a gentle nudge for the doors. Keith nodded in agreement. Thace was right. This needed to end now and his team had the ability to make that happen. There was no use for him to sit around here and mope when he knew that his uncle was just fine. With a hug and a goodbye, Keith stepped out of the ambulance and watched it leave.

The team which had been busy reviewing the data from the latest storm stopped when the ambulance passed by. Lance stepped out of Hunk's van to see Keith just standing there staring off at what seemed to be nothing. He slowly walked over, “you all right?” he asked quietly not wanting to startle him.

Keith nodded his head but never turned to look at Lance. He kept looking off at something. Almost like he was studying it. “I thought you were going to go to the hospital with Thace,” Lance added trying to get Keith's attention. Still, there was no sound out of him and it was starting to scare Lance. “Keith? What is it?” he tried to coax whatever was on Keith's mind out. Lightly tapping Keith's arm, Lance watched as his expression changed slightly. He was staring at the only piece of Thace's artwork left standing in awe.

Keith studied the moment of the twister piece Thace made. Then it hit him, he figured it out! “I know how to make Voltron fly,” he stated, looking over at Lance who was staring back at him in wonder. They both turned back to the art and watched it for a bit longer as it moved with the wind.

“Of course,” Lance whispered watching with awe. “Of course!”

Keith moved away and back to the team, “I need every aluminium can you can find!” he instructed them. They all gave him an odd look at first but then Lance came over in a rush.

“We need cutters and duct tape!” he called out, grabbing Pidge and Matt by the shoulders as they walked by Lance continued, “Pidge, Matt. I need the last piece of Voltron on my truck now okay!” everyone hurried away to gather up what they needed for the journey ahead.

“We're gone.” Hunk gave off a little laugh as he moved away from his van. Once the group had everything they needed, they were back on the road with a whole new spirit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This story is almost done. I can't believe it, just a few more chapter left and that's it. I have been having so much fun with this. I just don't want it to end. Thank you for all the support through comments and kudos. They really do make a difference in my confidence levels and I really appreciate them.


	11. Chapter 10: Close call

Most of the team was in Hunk's bus working on the sensors for Voltron. Keith had come up with a great idea after studying Thace's art, to put small wind-catchers on them. After finding as many pop cans and other small aluminium things as they could, Pidge, Matt, Shiro and Hunk all got started on cutting them into disks with slots and fold out the edges. The back of the bus was littered with pop cans, tools and band-aids, lots of band-aids. They worked intensely to get as many as they could do before they reached the tornado. As Coran drove with one hand his other was petting Marmora, who they took with them after Thace left for the hospital. She had nowhere else to go and Coran loved dogs, so he was pretty happy to have her along for the ride.

Allura and Sam drove the remaining vehicles behind Keith and Lance as they cut across deserted highways. Only passing a few cars going the other way even now and then. Soon enough they had caught up to the F-5 that was tearing across the countryside. It kicked up dirt and debris from everything it devoured; the clouds were black as night. The sound of it was louder than a train and almost unearthly. Keith and Lance watched it move in awe. This was the biggest funnel either of them has ever seen. It was incredible and extremely dangerous. That realization alone sent a chill through Lance and Keith's eyes set with determination.

Keith leaned forward to grab the radio while still keeping an eye on the twister. “Hunk, you ready for us?”

“Yeah, yeah. We're good.” Hunk's voice crackled over the speaker. Kieth could hear him ask the rest of the team just to be sure, “We're good? We're good.” with a pleased hum Hunk said one more time, “We're very good.” Lance looked over at Keith with a smile. This was going to work, he trusted his team and this was it. Keith smiled back and informed Hunk that they would be pulling over soon to collect the sensors and to be ready for that.

Lance pulled over onto the shoulder not too long after and waited for the team to catch up. He and Keith made sure to have the lips off before the team got there so it could be a quick dump. Once the caravan pulled up, Lance was yelling, “let's go! Come on!”

“Did you get them done?” Keith asked as Hunk jumped out of the bus and started handing Lance boxes of improved sensors.

“I think so!”

“Beautiful!” Lance said grabbing a box from Hunk. He dumped the contents into the Blue Lion piece then threw the box back to get another one. Pidge was up on the truck beside him helping to load up the Black lion at the same time. “Okay! Okay!” He grinned at Pidge. The excitement was buzzing through him. Once they were done, they hooked the lids back on and turned on all the devices so that they were prepped and ready to go.

“Good?” Hunk asked as Lance jumped off the truck into his arms,

“Yeah! Great job guys!” Lance squeezed Hunk's arms then pat them as he moved away, “just be ready to record!” he rushed to open the driver side door as hunk bounce back over to his bus.  
“Just be careful, alright!” Shiro called out as everyone got back into their vehicles. Lance shot he a prize-winning grin and a thumbs up as he shut his door.

“Don't follow too close!” Keith's voice rang out for the passenger side, there was a small bit of concern there but it was hard to notice over the excitement of the chase.

A chorus of, “All right,” “of course” and a sarcastic, “you got it, boss,” followed as Keith and Lance buckled up and set off with one last glance at the team.

Making sure to leave enough room between themselves and Lions, the group waited and watched to two speed off. Once they deemed in safe the team hurried back into their vehicle and took off with adrenaline induced laughter.  
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~  
“Half a mile more?” Keith asked as they approached the twister. It was running almost perpendicular to them, with slight shifts in its trajectory. The funnel is murky and dangerous. There are bits of debris circling around its outermost edges as it picks more. The tree that lined the road bent and broke under the strain of the winds and the crops in the fields were flattened.

“Sounds right,” Lance answered and took a deep breath as they got closer, “I figure, put the Black lion right in the middle of the road.”  
Keith gave him a look but Lance didn't see it. He was focused on the road and twister ahead of them, “Unless you think somebody will hit it?”

“Nobody will be there,” Lance said, his mouth set in a thin line and he eye burned with determination. Keith watched Lance in awe at his seriousness. Keith loved this look just as much as he did Lance's carefree smiles. They drive on a bit further before Lance quickly turned the wheel to the left. The truck tires screeched as it spun around almost 180 degrees, leaving smoke and black marks in its path. He slammed the shifter into park and jumped out. Keith was right on his heels on the other side of the truck.

“Hurry! Let's go! Come on!” Lance yelled out over the rushing winds as they unhooked the tie straps and dragged the Black Lion off the back. They placed just behind the truck and quickly checked to make sure all the equipment was running. “okay! That's good.” Once done, Keith slammed the tailgate back up and rushed to his side seat.  
Before he even fully sat down, Keith grabbed the radio, “Hunk, you in position?

“Yeah! We're primed and ready for contact!”

With one last look in the rear-view mirror, Lance took off making his tires squeal, leaving the Black lion sitting alone in the middle of the road as the tornado ripped trees out of the ground behind it. The beeps on the equipment were drowned out by the howling winds. Keith's face was determined yet excited at the same time as he watches the storm through the side-mirror. Lance was doing the same thing but there was a more present smile on his face as they drove away to a safe distance.

“This is it!” Keith said with fire in his eye. This was it! This was their moment, everything the team had worked for and it was going to happen! Lance looked over at him with a huge smile, he grabbed Keith hand a squeezed it tight and shook it a bit.

“It's going to work,” he voice with confidence.

Keith left out a breathy laugh and focused his attention back to the storm. Taking his hand back, Keith radioed to Hunk again, “Just another minute Hunk!”

“We're ready for it!” after that Keith put the CB speaker back and slowly climbed out the window. Lance was about to reach over and stop him but there was no use, Keith would do it anyway even if Lance disapproved. Keith was never one for fully listening to his warnings. With Keith now sitting on the window left, video camera in hand to document the flight of the Black Lion, Lance slowed down and came to a complete stop a good distance away from the funnel. He quickly joined Keith, hanging his upper body out his window.

They shared a look of excitement when Lance finally emerged from the truck. Lance took a second to admire how the winds were tangling Keith's hair. It was distracting, to say the least, but his attention was soon shifted when Keith started shouting, “Come on, come on! Take her!” Lance watched as the winds pushed the pack across the road.

“It's too light.”

“No, it's not!” Keith retorted. They both watched the twister spit out a huge piece of a tree. The wood skid across the ground narrowly missing the lion as she wobbled around.

“We're losing it!” Lance stated, turning toward Keith to make sure he heard him.

“No, we're not! She can still fly!” Keith shouted back not even looking at Lance. They soon witnessed another tree come flying out on the twister. This time though, it smashed right into the corner of the Lion, sending it spinning and toppling over, spilling out its contents along the road. Keith swore loudly and punched the top of Lance's truck. He threw the camcorder back inside and went to pout. Although before he could go full pout mode. Lance was yelling at him.

Keith saw his face light up with fear, “Get in! Get in!” and Lance threw himself back into the truck. Keith looked back to see what caused that reaction and saw a tree branch being whipped right at them. Before Lance is even able to get the truck in motion the tree rams itself into the back of the truck. As is wedged itself under the back driver-side tire it pushed the vehicle sideways, cause it to do a full 180.

After recovering from the whiplash the two were given from the initial hit, they stared ahead of them in fright. The twister had altered its track and was moved straight for them. “oh my god,” Lance breathed.

“Oh my god!” Keith repeated only louder than Lance. “Get us off this thing!” he shouted at Lance, Keith was referring to the tree that hit them which was now wedged under the truck. It's not like Lance needed to be told that or anything, he was trying. It didn't help that he was panicking or that Keith was yelling at him.

“Come on. Come on,” Lance chanted to himself as he slammed the gears into reverse.

“Lance! Punch it!” Keith's voice rose an octave or two.  
Again, Lance didn't need to be told that. He put the gas pedal to the floor and the back tired spun. Smoke rose from them as they burned into the asphalt. He could just barely hear Keith yelling at him still.

“She's stuck!” he barked back.

“Lance! Lance go right now! Hurry!” Keith's head was hanging out the window watching the tires spin. He was also hitting Lance's arm while he was trying to shift the gears again.

Putting it into drive again, Lance locked his jaw tight and pulled forward. The truck jumped a little on the branch but not enough to free them. The outskirts of the funnel were getting closer and closer as Lance desperately tried to get off the tree. Lance hadn't been fully paying attention to it until Keith gripped his arm tight and asked,

“What is that?”

Lance stopped what he was doing to see what Keith was talking about. In the cloud in front of the something metallic flickered. It was huge but they only caught a glimpse of it. “What is that?” Lance echoed.

Keith's eyes widen even more, “Lance! Lance, Hurry!” Lance had never heard that much panic in Keith's voice before. Normally Keith was the calm one out of the two but not today. The events with Thace must have stirred some emotions up. Keith continued to yell and slap Lance's shoulder as they watched the metal object morph into a tanker truck. The twister sent the truck skidding toward them.

“This is not good!” Lance cried as he shifts gears again, in a desperate attempt to break them loose from the tree. No one would be surprised that if by the end of this Lance had no tired left because of the amount being burned on the tarmac. Lance's jaw hurt for how hard he was grinding his teeth to keep the panic away which was only getting worse as the tanker moved closer. “Hold on!” he screamed as the 18-wheeler hit the front corner of his truck. The impact caused them to jump off the log and spin around. Lance immediately backed up to get out of the way as the tanker was picked up again.

“Let go!” Keith shouted as Lance slammed the gears into drive and sped off. They were both too focused on the twister ripping along behind them that they failed to notice where the tanker truck went until the turned around. Their eyes widen with even more fear as the truck dropped on to the road just in front of them. On contact, the tanker blew up creating a massive wall of fire in their path. With no way around it, Lance punched the gas and drove right through, hoping to God that the truck would not catch on fire and not end up in a ditch.

Lance's praying did a lot and they made it out on the other side safe and sound. With hearts racing a mile a minute, they drove away from the site. “Son of a bitch!” Lance muttered as yet another explosion happened behind them. Keith and Lance looked at each other, taking deep breaths, their facial expressions mirror one other, both wide-eyed and in awe. That just happened.

“Lance! Keith! Are you alright?” Hunk's panicked voice cut through on the radio, “Can you guys hear me? You okay? Oh God pleases tell you're okay. Answer me! Lance Kei-”

“We're okay Hunk!” Keith said catching his breath.

“Keith, Lance did you see that explosion?” It was Matt this time, and he sounded excited. Keith looked over at Lance who was shaking his head and laughing a bit. Of course, Matt would ask that. The kid's crazy.

“Yeah, we saw it,” Keith replied with a tired voice. He rubbed the back of his neck where it hit the seat twice to ease his tight muscles. 'That was going to hurt a lot more in the morning,' Keith thought. He looked over to see Lance just staring intensely at the road ahead with white knuckles on the stirring wheel. That was certainly a change of attitude from a few seconds earlier. The weight of the event must finally be hitting him.

The radio crackled to life again, “uh, this monster's still moving north-east on 80.” Coran said and after a small pause he asked, “you copy?” Keith and Lance looked at each other again.

“This is it,” Lance voiced what they had both been thinking. Taking deep breaths and stretching his fingers on the wheel, he continued, “Last one.”

Keith nodded his head slowly, this was it, they had no one more piece. The only one left was the Blue Lion. After that, they were done. There was no more grant money, no more materials, no more anything. This was the teams last chance. They had all worked so hard for this, he couldn't let that go to waste. This last one had to work.

“Last time,” He said quietly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The story's almost over! only about 2 or 3 chapters left to go! Wow, I can't believe it. Thank you to all of those that have followed the fic for this long. I'm really happy with the way things have gone. Please let me know if there is anything I can fix or if you just really like this AU and maybe I'll be able to write some storm chaser stories!


	12. Chapter 11: Occupational Hazard

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So there is a character death in this chapter! just a warning. it's not really graphic and very quick. I'm pretty happy with the chapter, so please let me know what you think! This fic is almost done, maybe one or two chapters left!

“Mobile lab to mobile one, ground speed is increasing. The base must be at least a mile wide. We can't see you anymore. What is your location?” The CB radio in Sendek's truck crackled with one of his technician's voices.

“We're driving right alongside her. She's a beaut,” he replied into his headset. Hexus was driving while Sendek was observing the tornado through binoculars. The Galra team was following the same F5 twister that Voltron was but they were hitting at a different angle. Sendek studied the storm a bit longer before speaking again. With a sly smile, he said, “We're getting ready to place. Pull back, prepare to monitor.”

The team pulling over and got themselves set up while Sendek and Hexus continued. As the cruised along Sendek checked the computers, “Okay, the path is stable, copy that.” he looked up at the twister raging on the field beside them then back to Hexus and with a wicked grin he said, “okay boys, this is it. This is the one! Stay sharp back there!” He could hear the rest of the team cheer over the radio.  
~ ~ ~ ~ ~~ ~ ~ ~  
Lance and Keith watched Sendek's team from afar, “They had to be there somewhere.” Lance commented.

The two shared a look of mild annoyance, “they have the position,” Lance paused to study the twister. “They could make it,” he sounded almost defeated.

“Not unless he anchors the pack,” Keith mutters. Lance gave him a concerned look, with his eyebrows pulled together. His gaze flickered to the storm ahead then back to him. Keith bit his tongue, this was frustrating. He wanted his team to have the glory of this invention and this discovery, they had worked so hard for it and they deserved it but it allowing Sendek to have meant that they could still save people's lives then so be it. With a sigh Keith begrudgingly picked up the radio and switched the channels, “Sendek, the is Keith. Can you hear me?”

“Not now Kogane!” Sendek snapped.

Keith could feel his anger growing. “Sendek, listen to me, the pack is too light. The twister will toss it before it even reaches the core. You have to anchor it.”

A chuckle rang out on the line, “Sharing valuable information are we now Keith. Alright well, I'll consider it. Thank you.”  
Keith's blood was starting to boil. Why did Sendek have to be such a child! He was trying to help him. Sendek should understand that this was serious because of the sheer fact that Keith was sharing valuable information! “Sendek listen to me! Don't be a-” Lance reached out to grab the mic from Keith causing him to stop his rant. “What?” he shot Lance a glare until his noticed that he was looking off into the distance with a concerned face. “Do you see them?” Keith asked gently.

Lance didn't bother answering Keith, instead, he brought the radio up to his mouth to speak, “Sendek, what's your position?”

“Oh howdy, Lance. We are heading northeast, running parallel, about to pull ahead of it on the left. Why?” Keith wanted to rage in Sendek now. He wouldn't answer him without attitude but Lance, oh he gave him the information he wanted. What the hell! Is it because Keith punched him or was it because Sendek got to punch Lance before he could land a good hit on Keith all those years ago. Keith's internal debate was put on hold when Lance started talking again.

“Hang back a bit. We have a pretty good view from back here, she could shift her track and if she does, she going to come right at ya.” Lance advised, “do you copy?”  
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~  
Sendek didn't reply. He didn't need to/ want to hear any of this from Lance or Keith. He knows what he is doing and didn't need to be told otherwise especially by the other team. He needed to concentrate on the task at hand which was getting into position to deploy their sensor pack into the twister.

“Maybe we should do what he says. He would never put us in harm's way.” Hexus hesitated to say. He wasn't there when the fight between the groups broke out years ago but he did have an understanding of what happened. He also knew that Keith wouldn't be giving them any helpful information or Lance telling them not to go ahead after that if it wasn't serious.

Normally Hexus was a strong-willed person but when Sendek sends him the fierce death glare he had ever seen, it would make anyone cower. “When I want your opinion, I'll give it to you. Keep your mouth shut, put your foot on the gas and stay on this heading.” The anger seeping out of Sendek's voice could drown a man.

The tension in the vehicle was broken by a voice coming through on the radio, this time it was one of their team members, “I can't believe this!”

“What? What is it? What's wrong?” Sendek asked the anger from the before still in his voice.

“The base is so huge! It must be more than a mile wide! It's incredible! Do you copy Sendek?” Before he was able to answer another voice slipped through.

“Sendek listen to me, this is not a game!” Lance's voice becoming strained with frustration, “this is n-”

“Get off this frequency McClain!” Sendek snapped cutting him off.  
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~  
When this was over Lance was going to rip Sendek a new one for being such an ass. They were only trying to help him! What the hell was wrong with that! Aren't storm chaser supposed to look out for each other, wasn't that part of the unwritten code of storm chasing or something!

“She's shifting Lance.” Keith dead serious voice ripping him out of his internal rant.

“Oh my god,” Lance's voice shook as he watched Sendek's truck and trailer drive further and further into the path of the tornado. He was starting panic now. Sendek had to have noticed the shift, there was no way he couldn't, but he kept going. Was he doing it out of spite or something? There was no way he could make it out if he went any closer. “Sendek listen to me!” the panic was now evident in his voice, “Hexus, I know you can hear me! Turn around now! Get out of there!” There was no response from the other side except for the sudden sound of static. It crackled every time after Lance yelled at them. Sendek must have turned his radio either off or on mute. He was about to start shouting again when Keith grabbed his arm. Lance looked over to see Keith's face contorted in fear and awe. With brows drawn together, Lance followed Keith's line of sight, his face mirroring Keith's when he notices what was about to happen.

He kept the vehicle going straight and watched as a long triangular shaped metal pole, most likely from a tall telephone pole, circled around part way up the base of the funnel before the winds shot it out. The piece was heading straight for Sendek's vehicle.

Keith and Lance's eyes widen as the metal smashed through the front driver side window, killing Hexus on contact. Right after that, the tornado's winds lifted the truck off the ground and into the air. The vehicle made it about a half a mile before the twister tossed in back down to earth. Both teams looked on in complete shock when the truck slammed into the ground, exploding on impact.

Keith turned his face away from the scene, giving Lance's arm a squeeze. Lance was stunned for a moment, his mouth hanging open in disbelieve. He couldn't believe that just happened. Anger quickly rose up through his body and Lance threw the CB radio speaker against the dashboard, “Dammit! Stupid! GAH!” he seethed through clenched teeth. His knuckles were turning white from the strength of his grip on the stirring wheel.

“We tried. There was nothing we could do,” Keith said in a monotone voice. He wasn't looking at Lance anymore but down at his lap. He would hate to admit it but he was, in fact, upset about what just happened. Losing a storm chaser whether they were your enemy or not was always hard but it was an occupational hazard. It's bound to happen, so he not as torn up about it as others would be. He left out a sigh and turned to see Lance staring out the front window intensely.

Lance could feel Keith's gaze, “yes there is,” he replied looking directly at him now. He gave Keith a look a sheer determination. They were going to do this. Voltron was going to fly no matter what. They gave each other a nod, both knowing what they were going to do without even saying anything. Lance sped up but kept on the same road in hopes that they could get ahead of the storm.

“Keith, Lance, ground speed's increasing. Get a head of it as fast as you can or she going to bury you!” Shiro's voice filled the vehicle. He sounded very concerned and that was understandable considering what just happened with Sendek. Over Shiro's voice, they could hear the twister stripping the landscape behind them bare. With Shiro advise Lance pushed the gas pelt further to speed up as they passed by a tractor dealership


	13. Chapter 12:  It's raining.... Tractors?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One more chapter everyone and that's it! I've had a lot of fun writing this but I have to finish it because the movie is over and school is starting soon. please let me know what you think about this story and this AU! I may be able to write more when I have time!

As they drove past the dealership the twister was quickly catching up to them. The heavy winds masked the sounds a screeching metal as it ripped through the lot. The hint Lance and Keith had of its actions was a loud bang behind them. When they turned to look, the only thing they could see was the Blue Lion because it sat right up against the back window.

Keith shrugged his shoulders them moved to look out of the front again. His eyes grew wide as a large shadow a few meters in front of them doubled in size than before he knew it a red harvester tractor slammed down on the road. Without giving it much thought, Keith grabbed the CB and shouted, “Debris, Shiro we have debris!”

“Debris!” Lance cried out in disbelief as he swerved to avoid the tractor.

Keith started calling out directions for Lance was more and more farm equipment fell from the sky. “Right!” he yelled as a sign flew over their heads. “Left!” another red tractor hit the ground. “Right!” tires and various metal blocked their path. “Left!” another harvester, this time Lance just barely missed it. The grain shoot hit the passenger side of the truck, it didn't break the front window but it dented the metal. Just as they rounded the last tractor a tire fell on to the hood of the truck before rolling off.

Lance shrieked through almost the entire thing and once the road was clear he left out a heavy breath. “what now!” he cried looking over at Keith who was holding on the what is affectionately referred to as the “Holy shit bar”. His knuckles were white and he was breathing heavy.

“I have no idea,” he wheezed out. Taking a few deep breaths to calm down.

Keith was about to start laughing when the radio buzzed to life, “Lance? Keith? You still with us?” Coran asked. They didn't have time respond as they watched a house rolled into view. Yes, the house was truly rolling as it emerged from behind an outcropping of trees along the road before it stopped right in the middle of their path.

“Oh my god, oh my god!” they both gasped.

“I think we're going in!” Lance's voice creaked as they crashed through one of the windows. Lance kept speed as they drove through room after room of the house. Keith was screaming the whole way but he would deny that if anyone were to ask. They drove up the stairs and smashed through several walls before finally breaking through a window on the other side. They were lucky they didn't hit any appliances or heavy objects. When the truck dropped back down onto the road, the two were out of breath and looking around frantically.

The truck was almost silent as they drove away from the scene. The sound was heavy breathing and anxious sighs. Lance turned his head slowly toward Keith, his eyes were blown wide with fear and surprise. Gulping down another breath Lance spoke, almost hesitant, “maybe we should get off this road.”

Keith still had his one had on the handlebar above the door and the other pressed against the roof of the truck when Lance made his comment. Nodding his head to agree Keith swallowed down his nerves, “I think you may be right.”

“Keith! Lance! Are you all right?” Hunk's frantic voice come over the com-system. Both could hear the panic rising in his tone which was understandable since the last thing the rest of the team had heard from them was Keith yelling about debris.

But Keith didn't have time for Hunk's anxiety right now. They had to get the last Lion of Voltron up before it was too late, so he bypassed the situation by not answering Hunk's question and taking his mind off it. “Hunk, you guys set up?” he asked while getting himself ready.

The reply came through as he unhooked his seat belt and motioned for Lance to keep driving. “Yeah, Keith we're set. You going in?” Pidge asked.

“We're going in,” Keith confirmed. Lance watched Keith move around in his seat making sure he wasn't caught on anything.

“You ready?” Lance questioned giving Keith a sideways glance.

“I'm on it,” Kieth said as he climbed into the back.

“Be careful” Lance spoke softly as their eyes met. Keith gave him a nod before he opened the back window and crawled through. He sat on the ledge with his feet still inside, giving himself more support against the bumpy road. Keith reached out to turn all the dials on and listened for the different beeps admitting from the various instruments. The strong wind whipped through his hair, leaving it a tangled mess. He quickly checked the weather ahead of them over the roof of the truck then finished up with the Blue Lion.

“She's up,” he informed Lance once he crawled back through the window.

Lance watched Keith sit down and buckle up before he answered, “okay.” They gave each other a quick nod silently confirming what they were about to do.

As soon as possible Lance took the next road. With a fast left turn, the truck entered into a tall corn field.  
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~  
The window rippled across the green field in front of the team. They had pulled over to the side of the road in between two dense farms fields. All of their equipment was in position and already collecting data from the NSSL. Pidge and Matt were working on the computers while Allura and Coran were moving the Doppler around as needed. Sam manned the cameras, as usual, Shiro was going back and forth between the two group and Hunk was using the binoculars to find Lance and Keith.

“Where are they? I can't see them.” Hunk panicked. He frantically searched around their last known location but he could find them, the tall crops were in the way.

“Doppler tracking is great. Windspeed still increasing.” Pidge called out.

“I have never seen anything like this,” Coran said in amazement. He has been with the team for many years and in the field for longer but this was his first time seeing something as extraordinary as this. The team watched in awe as the massive tornado slowly sweep across the landscape in front of them. The sky was pitch black leading into the funnel. There was no rain, no lightning and no thunder. The only sound was rushing winds through the open plains.

Hunk was still searching through the binoculars when he finally spotting Lance's pretty blue and very beat up truck making its way through a cornfield toward the twister. “They're going to punch the core,” the worry in Hunk's voice was concerning as he turned to Shiro. They shared an anxious look, with eyebrows knitted together. Shiro put his hand gently down on Hunk's shoulder and gave it a squeeze before turning his attention back to the storm. They were both praying that Lance and Keith would come back safe, and if they knew exactly where those two were about to do they would voice their objection loud and clean.


	14. Chapter 13: Make a run for it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay, so I lied in my last author's note. This is NOT the last chapter. If it was it would have been way too long, so I split it up. I hope that's okay with everyone. Anyway, so there is one more chapter after this! I would like to thank everyone who has commented or left a kudos, it means a lot to me. They had really helped me along the way with stay focused and able finish this story. please feel free to let me know how you like this fic and thank you again for the support. Now on with the chapter!

Keith and Lance drove deeper and deeper into the cornfield on a collision course with the F5 tornado ripping across the open plains of Oklahoma. The blue lion in the back of the truck was still beeping away signalling that all the instruments were in working order. The two had made a silent agreement on the plan before they entered the field. They needed to anchor the pack and there was only one way to do that.

“You ready?” Keith asked, his eyes were set with determination as he watched the twister in front of them grow closer. He was fidgeting with the ends of his jacket and making sure he had all of his things before they got out.

Lance spared Keith no glance as he concentrated on keeping the truck in motion. He grits his teeth, he knew he was going to some-what regret this decision but it was for the good of the team and of the scientific community. “Yeah. Let me just set the cruise control.” Lance said as he glanced down at the speedometer. The corn in front of them slammed down on the hood as they drove through it. The twister was dark and ominous as it loomed ahead. Lance stared out through the creaked front window for a second to judge their distance, He took a deep breath, “Okay, we're good.”

“On three?” Keith's voice gave off a hint of worry.

“On three,” Lance confirmed. He shot Keith a look as they both readied themselves for what they were to do. It was crazy they knew that but it was the only way. This was the last Lion and they had no other options. Lance drove the truck a bit further. Keeping it in line with the twister “Go!” Lance called. They both pushed open their doors as best they could against the corn. They two struggled to keep the door open wide enough so that they could climb out just enough to still be hanging on the vehicle. Once both of them were standing on the edge of the door frame Lance yelled out “Ready?”

“Ready.” Keith nodded.

Wasting no time, Lance started the countdown, “One! Two! Three!” and they jumped. The truck doors slamming behind them as they fell to the ground.

Lance got up and scurried over to Keith as he slowly got to his feet. He grabbed a hold of Keith's arm and helped him the rest of the way up then pulled him over to the middle of the pathway the truck made. They both watched in awe as the vehicle kept going. The twister was right in front of it ripping through the field as it grew closer.

“Go. Go. Go! Go!” Keith chanted. Lance held his breath as the truck drove away from them.

The truck and twister finally met. The winds tore the top off the lion which sent all the little sensors into the air. The sparkled because of the metal wind-catchers. If you listened closely and over the almost deafening road of the winds, the sensors sounded like wind chimes tinking together. Those and the truck itself were swallowed up by the funnel.

Lance was the first one to jump for joy as the truck disappeared. “Yes!” he cheered shacking Keith out of his stunned state. “Yes!” Lance almost picked Keith up to spin him around but stopped himself when Keith put his hands on Lance's cheeks and pull him in closer. Keith had the biggest smile on his face and he was laughing softly. Lance leaned in slowly, at this moment Keith was the most beautiful person he had ever seen, with the wind whipping through his hair and the small amount of dirt that dusted his face was becoming too much for Lance to handle. Every since the insistent up on that hill with the jumper Lance has wanted to kiss Keith. To make all his worries go away, to soothe his pain, he wanted to fix what happened between them, but he never got the chance. Hopefully right now was that chance, but he could only hope, and all but too soon, Keith turned away from Lance. Keith dropped his hands from Lance's face and focused his attention on the twister.  
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~  
The rest of the team waited patiently, well most of them did except for Hunk. He was a tad bit of a nervous wreck. He knew his friends were putting themselves in danger trying to get close enough to the twister to deploy the Blue Lion. If they didn't move fast enough they could be taken too and they really worried Hunk.

Hunk watched Lance and Keith through his binoculars, making sure they were okay. Shiro had his hand on Hunk's shoulder to help both ground him and show him his concern. They all held their breath, waiting for any signs, then Hunk gasped.

“Oh my God,” through the binoculars Hunk could just see the glinting lights of the sensors being swallowed up for the funnel, “the Blue Lion is flying!” he cheered, startling Shiro, “She's flying, man!” He shouted bouncing around to his team members. Their faces lite up brightly at the news.

The group cheered louder as the computer started collecting data and making diagrams right in front of them. “Look at that! We're in, we're in!” Allura cried as she hugged Coran.

“I don't believe it!” Coran almost started tearing up.

“We're going to be very popular!” Sam shouted, patting the two on their backs.

“She's flying!” Hunk draped himself over Matt and Pidge who were hunched over the computers with bright smiles watching as the data poured into their systems. “Hey man, look at that! It's working!” Hunk pointed at the one screen. It was showing the outline of the twister from the site and the top. The image was littered with different colours, each one representing the different sensors that were in the pack.

“It's Christmas time,” Matt smiled up at him. His eyes were wide with excitement, “We did it!” he pats Hunk's hand that was on his shoulder.

“I'm already getting readings!” Pidge yelled, bouncing in her seat. Everyone gathered around her stations. Her computer screen was displaying real-time spreadsheets. There were four different groups, each with their own colour. The team watching in amazement at the sheets filled up fast.

“We did it, guys! We've made history!” Shiro congratulated everyone with a warm smile. This is was what the team deserved. They all had worked so hard to get this far. It was a dream come true.

The group cheered louder. The excitement was contagious but it was quickly broken by Pidge, “Uh, hey guys, it's about to shift northeast.” the concern in her voice rang loud and clear.

Shiro's eyes widened and his head shot back in the direction they all last saw Lance and Keith. The twister was going to move right toward them, “Keith, I think you should get out of there!” he said into the radio he picked up off the portable table. There was silence on the other end, “You copy?” his worries coming through in his voice.

“Lance, Keith! Do you copy?” Hunk shouted into his radio but there was no answer.  
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~  
The two stood there in the path the truck made and watched the twister with awe. They did it and neither of them could believe it. Keith and his team had worked so hard for this. They had put in some much time and effort to get Voltron up and running. Lance couldn't be happier for the group. Now only time will tell how the data could help the scientific community. Speaking of time, it took a second for Lance to realize something was wrong. When it finally clicked that the twister was shifting its track, Lance's eyes widened,  
“Oh, no!” he grabbed Keith roughly by the arm and threw him toward the house on the hill as the tornado ate away at the crops in front of them. “Run!” he yelled.

Keith dashed through the field with Lance on his heels. They ran as fast as they could, pushing the corn stocks away from them while trying not get any cuts for the leaves. It was getting harder and harder to see as the sky darken, the roar of the winds were getting louder and it felt like they had been running for miles in the field with almost no end in sight.

Finally, Keith broke through the last row of corn and stopped to make sure Lance was still behind him. Lance practically ran into him, not expecting to stop. Both frantically searched for a place to hit. In front of them was a farm with four different sized barns and a house off to the one side. A chest-high fence lined the paddock the surrounded the one barn. The horses on the other side were running around frighten about the storm. Lance pushed Keith toward the side closest to the building. “The barn!” He called taking off in that direction.

The winds were breaking the poorly made fence was they rounded the corner. The horses cried as debris from the field swirled around them. Lance took a quick look back and saw that the twister was almost the edge of the field they just ran through, “Hurry!” he shouted with prompted Keith to run faster.

Soon though, Keith slowed down a little to allow Lance to catch up. Once he was close enough, Keith grabbed Lance's hand and took off again, dragging him along. “Come on!” Keith whined. They almost stopped again when they heard the sound of wood being ripping apart but then a piece of the fence flew over their heads and they moved faster.

“Look out!” Lance cried pulling then down a bit to avoid being impaled.

They ran on further trying to find an opening into the paddock so they could get to the barn. There was no luck so far but it kept raining fence boards. “Lance! Here, here!” Keith pointed to a hole in the fence just up ahead. They crawled between the support beams and dashed through the cleaning toward the barn. It took Keith some effort to force the doors open against the winds but finally, they found shelter.

They both scurried in quickly just as the door was struck by three fence piece. Lance shrieked at the sight, “get down,” he shoved Keith's shoulders down so he was hunched over running through the barn to the back. Covering his head with his hands Lance followed. They stopped part way through when the sound a metal rubbing against metal got louder. Looking up, Lance's eyes widened.

“Oh my god.” Keith mouthed. The room was filled with sharp metal blades, hay cutters, and other dangerous farm equipment.

“Who are these people?” Lance asked. Fear rising in his voice. “oh I don't think so!” There was no way that they were going to stay here. Not with all of those sharp objects. It's a death trap here! He went to push Keith to get him moving again when another fence board crashed through the window and flew right by their heads, embedding itself in the back wall.

Keith shot him a look full of concern, they needed to leave now, “Let's get out!” He grabbed Lance's hand again a dragged him over to the back door as more debris hit the barn. They raced through the haystacks and Keith kicked the back door open as soon as they reached it. As they emerged from the building the twister just reached it on the other side. Bits and pieces of the walls were flying around the outside of the funnel. Keith stopped for a moment to watch it as Lance moved away.

“oh my god,” Lance breathed as he took in the view. Pulling Keith along he yelled, “come on! Come on!” they made it several feet away before all the windows were blown out and the roof was being ripped off. “Run for it!” Lance cried as debris littered the ground and the sky. This was crazy he thought, they were so exposed out here but obviously, that barn was not safe. Keith tried not look behind him as he heard the big bard being torn apart but he wanted to make sure Lance was still following. Every-now-and-then he would steal a glance and each time the funnel got closer and closer to them. The barn they were just in was now fully engulfed but the storm.

“Duck!” Lance yelled out of the blue pushing Keith over. He watched in surprise as an entire wall flew just over their heads. Thank god, he saw that emerged from the murky abyss behind them. They continued running until Lance yelled again. “Get down!” and he pulled Keith flat to the ground as the front end of a harvester just barely skinned over them. Both of them scrambled back to their feet and took off again. They ran along the edge of a sunflower field for a couple of meters before turning to scurry up a small hill, where a tiny metal building stood. Debris was flying all around them as Lance tried to open the first door he saw. He pushed and pulled but it wouldn't budge. Keith moved to check the other side but quickly slammed back into Lance as a piece of sheet metal almost hit him. Waiting a second before stepping out they both rounded the corner to try the next door.

Keith's grip in the handle slipped and the winds almost took him before Lance grabbed his hand and pulled him back in. Together they pried open the door as quickly as possible before anymore broken barn boards could hit them. Once inside Lance slammed the door shut. Keith fiddled with the latched to close it while Lance surveyed the room. It was a tiny room, with one window. There were some chains and straps hanging up on the walls but not much else. In the centre of the floor, there was a metal pipe in a 'U' shape sticking out of the ground. “Here! These pipes go down at least 30 feet! We anchor to them, we might have a chance!” Lance shouted over the winds. He turned around to grab some of the chains he saw earlier.

“Lance!” Keith yelled to get his attention, Lance looked over and saw Keith handing him some leather straps but they were all worn out and cracking.

“No good,” he said shaking his head. He spotted where Keith found that one and right beside them he could see better and bigger one.  
“These ones!” he grabbed the two best ones and looped one of the bars first. “come on! Get in!” he directed Keith to the opening. Keith slid the strap over his shoulders so it sat around his waist then helped Lance do the same with his.

Once they were both secure, Lance wrapped his one arm around Keith and they crouched down. The building groaned as the winds picked up around them.


	15. Chapter 14: The finger of God

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is the last chapter! I would like to thank everyone who commented, bookmarked and left a kudos, this has been an amazing experience for me and you all helped to make it. This was my first time posting something here and being able to finish a piece makes me so happy. Please tell me what you liked the most and if you want to see more set in this AU. I had a lot of fun with it and I really hope I can add to it. Alrighty, well on with the chapter!

They did not have to wait long before the building started to rattle and break apart under the stress of the storm. The first thing to go was the roof. It came off in almost one piece, allowing the destructive winds to swirl around inside. The rafter broke off next which sent some debris raining down on them before it was quickly taken again. The wall slowly disintegrated and ripped away as the twister engulfed them.

Lance and Keith sat on the ground just under the pipes holding on for dear life as the entire structure was torn apart, they watched in horror as the funnel ate away at their shelter and not a single piece touched the ground. Lance's grip on Keith tightened as the area darkened. Only the cement pad was left by the time the storm fully covered them.

“Hang on!” Lance cried as the winds grew stronger. Lightning flashes all around them and soon they were being lifted off the ground. Keith wrapped his hands around the pipes for extra support and Lance followed. Slowly the winds left them to the point that they were upside-down. They seem to hover there like a flag in the breeze. The lightning and winds were deafening while debris swirled all around them but never actually touched them. They were now inside the funnel cloud.

Keith's eyes widened as he took in the scene. His hair was being pulled upward and through the tangled strands he could see a smaller thinner funnel twirling around inside the large one. The lightning jumped between the two funnels but never hit the ground. Debris whirled around the outside clouds moving in and out of the murky wall. At the top of the storm, Keith could just barely see the clear blue sky of the upper atmosphere. The whole thing just took his breath away. This was the most amazing thing he had ever experienced and it would probably be the only time he would. As quickly as it happened, the inside funnel started to collapse which caused a chain reaction. The winds died down and Lance and Keith dropped to the ground and the storm dissipated.

The dark murky clouds dissolved away to reveal clear skies. Bits and piece from the tornadoes trek rained down. Lance could hear the sound of the horse for earlier as they ran loose across the property. He took a deep breath of the fresh air, blinking a few times as water sprinkled over him from the pipes. Out of the corner of his eye, Lance saw Keith move to sit up. Lance reached over to touch him, panting Lance asked, “you all right?”

Keith shifted to face Lance, “are you all right?” he repeated brushing his hand against Lance's cheek. Lance nodded with a soft smile and Keith slowly sat up fully to look around, he felt Lance's hand drop from his chest to his waist as he took in the damage of the storm. Shaking off the leather strap Keith turned to help Lance remove his.  
Lance smiled brightly and chuckled at him as Keith fussed over him.

Finally looking away from Keith, Lance noticed something, “Hey, would you look at that. It didn't take the house.” he said in awe. About several yards away stood in almost perfect condition the large farmhouse whose owner was now standing outside taking in the scene they had all just survived.

Lance turned back to Keith with a huge smile and they just stared at each other for a moment before Keith spoke. “We did it,” he said a little out of breath.

“Yeah, we did. Voltron really flew.” the fondness was only growing more in Lance's voice.

“It was a good idea,” Keith admitted softly.

“Yeah,” Lance breathed, his eye roaming over Kieth. His hair was wet and clinging to his face, his cheeks were flush and his eyes were bright with all the excitement. Lance again wanted to lean in and kiss Keith but he stopped himself, he didn't want t to ruin the moment or whatever was going on between right now. So he would wait for Keith. Lance ran over everything quickly in his head, what was he going to do now? He told Keith that he was only going to stay to see Voltron fly and now it had so what should he do next, “Well, I-”

“We've got some much to do!” Keith interrupted as he realized what having Voltron airborne meant.

“Yeah,” Lance agreed.

Keith's eye widened as he thought about it more, “I'm going to have to get grant approval for a new warning system,” he ran a hand through his wet hair, “We need to get a bigger lab! You've got to start analysis on all that data,” Keith said patting Lance on the shoulder.

“I do?” Lance questioned with a raised brow

Keith's eyebrows came together as he gave Lance a slightly confused look as to why he was questioning that, “uh, yeah. We have to generate models out of all of this data and I need to run the lab.” he said as if Lance should have known all that.

Lance shook his head as Keith spoke, that was not happening, there was no way, “No, no, no, You're doing the analysis.” he made sure to emphasizes 'you're', “I'm running the lab,” he also placed emphasizes on 'I'm' to get his point across.

Keith gave him a very offended look, “you're running the lab?” He laughed dryly, “I don't think so.”

Lance stuttered trying to find a comeback, “G-” he stopped and took a breath, giving himself a moment to calm down so he didn't start another argument with Keith. Lance watched Keith's face settle into a soft smirk at his silence, and he took a few more moments to just admire his face. Water droplets hung off the edge of Keith's eyelashes and some ran down his cheeks. His dark hair curled around his neck while his clothes clung to his body. Their eyes met slowly and stayed in each other's gaze. The music from Hunk's bus played softly in the background as Lance's spoke, “do you always have to do things that hard way?” there was a hint of sarcasm in his tone.

Keith smiled gently as his eye flickered down to Lance's lips and he saw him doing the same. They both knew what they wanted, so they slowly leaned in. Their breaths mingling and lips about to touch.

“You got it, guys! The sensors worked, the computers went crazy! We've got data coming out of our ears!” Pidge shouted running over to them. Keith and Lance pulled away from each other before they could meet to acknowledged their teammates. Everyone else rushed over cheering with happiness.

“That was the biggest twister on record!” Coran called out over the commotion, Marmora was barking in the background. Shiro and Allura were hugging while Pidge and Sam danced around with excitement.

“It was awesome man!” Hunk exclaimed picking Matt up and spinning him around laughing.

“Hey, Keith, Lance, check out that sky!” Matt pointed to the horizon and laughed again as Pidge pulled him away from the two. She knew what was going to happen next, she had been waiting for it and she didn't want her brother to ruin it.

Keith and Lance were still on the ground smiling as their team celebrated around them, “You know what?” Keith asked Matt, “I think we've seen enough.” and with that, he pulled Lance into a long-awaited kiss. Keith poured all his emotion into, all his unsaid words, all his love, all of his being into and Lance happily did that same. They had been through so much in the last few days, it was unbelievable. They had survived twister after twister, including the largest F5 they had ever seen. It was a miracle. All the team's hard work had paid off with the flight of the Blue Lion and Keith couldn't be happier sharing that experience with Lance by his side.

The rest of the team continued to celebrate their achievements while Lance and Keith relished in their own moment. The carnage of the storm spread out around them but none of them cared at the time because it was their moment of pure joy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now that the fic is over, I definitely suggest you watch the movie I based it off of, which is Twister- from 1996 starring Bill Paxton and Helen Hunt. It's my favourite movie of all time, so please check it out!


	16. New Author's note!

Alrighty, so I have decided to make a sequel! It will be set sometimes after the last chapter and at this point, I don't know if it will be a one-shot or a short multichapter fic yet but I will let you guys know! I will try to get it out as fast as I can before school work really starts to pick up! Let me know if you have any idea that you are hoping to see in the sequel and maybe I can work those in! Also if you want a sneak preview of what is coming up in the next fic just comment on this and I will post something, even if it's just an outline!


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